
























































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































Class ~F ~ 909 

Book_ , L ? 7 

Copyright N°_ 

COPYRIGHT DEPOSIT. 






















LITTLE JOURNEYS 

N\ 

TO 


ALASKA and CANADA 


ALASKA 

BY 

EDITH KINGMAN KERN 


CANADA 

BY 

MARIAN M. GEORGE 


1923 

A. FLANAGAN COMPANY 

CHICAGO 





Fcjoc | 

•J— 77 

COPYRIGHT 1901. 1923, BY A. FLANAGAN COMPANY 






SEP 18 *23 


PRINTED IN THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA 

©C1A711038 

o I 


5 



INDEX 


ALASKA 


Aleuts .;. 60 

Area . 7 

Auk Indians, The. 44 

Baranoff Castle . 23 

Child Life . 33 

Climate . 11 

Eskimo, The . 69 

Eskimo Dogs. 76 

Eskimo Life . 72 

Fishing Industry . 57 

History . 9 

Indian Blankets. 30 

Indian Child Life. 33 

Indian Customs. 31 

Indians of Sitka . 25 

Juneau . 42 

Kadiak Island. 57 

Klondike Gold Region, The 49 

Location . 6 


Mission Schools. 36 

Mt. St. Elias. 55 

Mountains . 8 

Muir Glacier, The. 52 

Overland to Seattle. 13 

Railroad, First and Only... 49 

Reindeer, The. 77 

Salmon Fishing at Kadiak.. 57 

Schools, Mission . 37 

Sea Lions . 65 

Sea Otter, Hunting the.... 66 

Seal Hunting . 61 

Seal and Sea Otter Islands 60 

Seattle . 16 

Seattle, Overland to. 13 

Shishaldin . 60 

Sitka . 20 

Sitka, Indians of. 25 

Size . ^ 

Skagway . 47 

Surface . ^ 

Treadwell Gold Mine. 46 

Totem Poles . 27 , 


Voyage, The 






































I 


(Which Descends to the Sea at the Head of Taku Inlet—not far from Juneau.) 












A Little Journey to 
Alaska 

By EDITH KINGMAN KERN. 

Ours really begins to seem like a “ life on the ocean 
wave,” doesn’t it? What long and delightful voy¬ 
ages we have had! Instead of going to sea for a rest, 
as most people do, we really have had to leave the 
ocean for a change. What a happy voyage that was 
across the Pacific to Hawaii, and then to the Philip¬ 
pines and wonderful Japan and China! But do you 
remember how sick we all were when we crossed that 
choppy China Sea, and how, at first, we wished we 
were at home, and then we didn’t care whether we 
ever lived to get home? Now, being well rested, we 
may have forgotten all that. But, wouldn’t it be 
more than delightful to have a long ocean voyage, if 
we knew that every day on the steamer would be one 
of pleasure, and that no horrid sea-sickness would ever 
keep us in our cabins, and make us long for home? 
Then, let us pack our grips and start for that most 
wonderful of all our possessions, Alaska. 

You don’t want to go because it is so cold! Non¬ 
sense, let us take with us warm clothing, and we will 
probably be very comfortable, for Alaska is a big 
country, and we can see many of the wonderful things 
there without going to the coldest parts. 

Where is there another country in which we can see 
glaciers, icebergs, volcanoes, reindeer, sea-lions, seals, 


6 


A LITTLE JOURNEY TO ALASKA. 


sea-otters, whales, brown, black and polar bears, gold 
and silver mines, Eskimos and totem poles? 

Let us not delay, but make our preparations and 
start this month, as April is the opening of the season 
for tourists’ trips to the north. 

This little journey will be very unlike any we have 
taken. On every previous ocean voyage there have 
been many days when we could see no land, but on 
this trip, every hour will be full of interest. We will 
enjoy a constant change of scenery, people, and animal 
life. 

While we are making our preparations, let us take 
our maps, guide books and histories and learn all that 
we can of Alaska, for the more we know about the 
country, the more pleasure our visit will give us. 

LOCATION, SIZE, AND SURFACE. 

Look on your map of North America and you will 
see Alaska at the extreme northwestern point. It ex¬ 
tends from Point Barrow on the north to Dixon En¬ 
trance on the south. The cold Arctic Ocean borders 
it on the north and the broad Pacific Ocean on the 
west. See what a long broken coast line it has. It 
has a great many small islands and some large ones 
bordering it. The southeastern part is made up almost 
entirely of a great chain of islands. The southwestern 
part reaches out into the ocean for a great distance. 
It is like a long arm, and is called a peninsula. It 
ends in a line of rocky islands, becoming smaller and 
smaller, until at the extreme point they are very tiny. 
There are a great many places along the coast where 
the water reaches up into the land. These are called 
bays. 


A LITTLE JOURNEY TO ALASKA 


7 


Alaska is a long ways from the United States, but 
very near to Russia. Only a narrow strip of water 
called Behring Strait separates it from Russia, which is 
a part of Asia. 

Alaska is a great country, as you will see. It is 
over 1000 miles long, more than 700 miles wide, and 
has an area of 590,884 square miles. It is almost one- 
sixth as large as the United States and about seven- 
ninths as large as Mexico. Take your maps, compare 
them, and see for yourselves. 

The name Alaska means “ great country” and comes 
from an Indian one, Alakshak. Don't you think it is; 
a very appropriate name? A famous American, Mr., 



W. II. SEWARD. 


CHARLES SUMNER. 


Charles Sumner, had the honor of naming it, because 
he said a great deal to influence people to think of it 
as an important country. 

Let us look at our relief maps and learn about the 
surface of the land we are about to visit. It is what 
is called a plateau, that is, a high or elevated table 


8 


A LITTLE JOURNEY TO ALASKA. 


land or flat country with many mountains reaching 
still higher. 

The Cascade Range, which we see in the United 
States and Canada, extends along the coast of Alaska 
from the most southern point to the end of the long 
narrow peninsula. The slopes of many of the moun¬ 
tains are covered with immense glaciers. These are 
rivers of ice which flow slowly down the mountain side 
and plunge into the sea in the form of great icebergs as 
large or larger than a school house. We shall see these 
wonderful rivers of ice when we get to the far north. 

Many of the mountains are volcanoes, always burn¬ 
ing, but some are so quiet that the fires inside seem to 
have gone out. We shall see the greatest numbers of 
these burning mountains on that long, narrow penin¬ 
sula which points out into the Pacific Ocean. Some¬ 
times in this chain of islands, which is called the Aleu¬ 
tian, one volcano will form an entire island, while 
others slope to the sea with quite a bit of level coun¬ 
try between. 

What is that great river coming from the Rocky 
mountains in Canada, and flowing clear across Alaska 
into Behring Sea? It is the Yukon, one of the greatest 
rivers in North America. Our geographies tell us that 
it drains all of the great interior of Alaska, and that 
it is 2040 miles long. Wouldn’t you like to float down 
its whole length on a raft as Lieut. Schwatka did a 
few years ago? Perhaps when we get there we may 
have a ride on the river, but we will probably have to 
ride on a steam boat. At any rate we must see this 
great river and learn all we can about it, for it has 
been but a few years since it was explored. 


A LITTLE JOURNEY TO ALASKA. 


9 


We now know something of the geography of this 
far away country which we will visit. It must be an 
interesting country, for hundreds of travelers go there 
every year. We eagerly get our histories and read 
everything we can find about the people, the climate 
and the products. 

HISTORY OF ALASKA. 

In studying the map of the United States, have you 
ever wondered why the map of Alaska was in one cor¬ 
ner? It is placed there because it is a part of our 
country. How did we get possession of it? We 
bought it and paid $7,200,000 for it. 

Why should we buy a country so far away? Be¬ 
cause it is a country of untold wealth. There is a great 
deal of money to be made there from the fur of seals 
and other animals, from the salmon which is canned 
and shipped to us, from the codfish, the whales, and 
gold mines. 

If we think that our country paid a great deal of 
money for it, we should remember that our govern¬ 
ment has already received many times that amount 
from the industries of the country. We decide] 
unanimously that it was a pretty good investment. 
Yet, in 1867, when the purchase was made, many 
people in our states said that it was too much to pay. 
If we can do a little sum in arithmetic, we will find 
that Alaska did not cost our country quite two cents 
for one acre. That is a very small price compared 
with the cost of land about our homes. 

Now, has any one found out from what country we 
bought Alaska? It was Russia who sold it to us. 


10 


A LITTLE JOURNEY TO ALASKA, 


Look on the map and you will see some queer old 
names of places. These, such as Baranoff, are Russian 
names, and sound very unlike ours. 

Many people who still thought that our government 
was extravagant called it “Seward’s Ice Box.” They 
did that because they did not believe in its great 
wealth and thought it was so cold that nothing good 
could ever come from there. When we get there we 
may be surprised to find it much less cold than we 
thought. 

Mr. William H. Seward was at the time of the pur¬ 
chase our Secretary of State and lived at the capital, 
Washington, as all of the presidents’ cabinets do. He 
was the means of getting our country to buy Alaska, 
and he kept persevering and talking about it until it 
was done. So the people made fun of him and nick¬ 
named the country, but everyone now thinks he was 
a very wise man, and honors his memory because the 
buying of Alaska has been a very profitable invest¬ 
ment for our country. 

Don’t you wish yomcould have been in Alaska when 
they had the great ceremony of Russia giving up the 
country to the United States? It was a day of excite¬ 
ment, and happened on October 18, 1867. There 
was a Russian flag floating from a flag staff on the old 
castle in Sitka. Look in your dictionaries and see the 
eagles on the yellow flag of the Czar, and find Sitka 
on your maps, for that is the first place to which we 
are going in Alaska. 

There were United States soldiers and Russian sol¬ 
diers lined up all about the castle. Three of our best 
warships lay in the harbor. The masts were gay with 


A LITTLE JOURNEY TO ALASKA. 


11 


our national colors. There were speeches, marching, 
and firing of salutes. When the ceremony was over 
and the land was actually ours, the Stars and Stripes 
were hoisted to the top of the flag staff, and our ships 
thundered a salute with their great guns. 

The officers of the Russian government felt very 
badly when their flag was pulled down and ours was 
run up; but the Americans who were there treated 
them very courteously, and in return they felt very 
kindly toward us. 

Now that we know something of the history of the 
country, we must inquire about the climate, for, in 
making our preparations for the trip, we must know 
how to dress ourselves comfortably and properly. 

CLIMATE. 

We must not think of Alaska as a cold, bleak coun¬ 
try, where plants, animals and people cannot live. 

A traveler, whose home is in Boston, but who spent 
a winter in Alaska, says that Sitka has a milder climate 
in winter than Boston. Such a st atement would surprise 
most people, but, when we crossed the Pacific Ocean 
to the Philippines, we noticed a great warm river in 
the ocean called the Japan Current. This flows in a 
circle rather near to the western coast of North Amer¬ 
ica, and makes a great difference in the climate as 
far north as the Yukon River. The coast of Alaska 
would probably be very cold were it not for this, but 
on account of its influence, people may live in these 
regions in comfort. When we visit there, the effect 
of this on the plant life will give us many surprises. 

Instead of seeing a cold, frozen country, we shall 
see the coast all along our course green with vegeta- 


12 


A LITTLE JOURNEY TO ALASKA. 


tion. True, we shall also see snow, and the glaciers 
pouring their volumes of ice into the ocean. 

There is much rain in Alaska, especially along the 
coast. We would hardly know what to make of a rain 
that lasts for days, and sometimes for two and three 
weeks at a time, but their rains are warm and soft, 
and are less disagreeable. 

In the interior the air is drier and they do not have 
so much rain; but, when it does come down, the fierce 
thunder and lightning which often goes with it is ter¬ 
rible. 

The greater part of Alaska is very cold—that is in 
the northern part and in the vast interior, although in 
the latter the climate varies so much that often the 
summer heat is intense. We would probably think so 
if we could see the swarms of huge mosquitoes which 
flourish there in that season. 

Instead of the seasons gradually changing, as they 
do here, the cold winter follows quickly after summer. 

The very pleasantest time of the year is June and 
July. Then the sun shines most in the long days of 
summer, which only lasts four months. 

The eight months of winter which follow do not 
have the long daylight that we have, and for seventy 
days they have no daylight at all except a glow in the 
sky. Such an appearance in the heavens is called the 
“northern lights.” 

It is well that we know something of the climate 
before we start, for we will need to take our rain coats, 
umbrellas, and warm clothing for the cold, damp 
nights. A heavy steamer rug will be very necessary 
for our comfort on deck. 


A LITTLE JOURNEY TO ALASKA. 


13 



THE OVERLAND TRIP. 

Seattle being the port from which we start on our 
sea voyage, let us take our maps and select our route 
to the coast. 

As Chicago is a convenient starting place, we notice 
the lines connecting it with Seattle. Let us go by the 
Chicago, Milwaukee and St. Paul to Minneapolis and 
the Great Northern from Minneapolis to Seattle, for 
these lines are known for their safety and prompt 
service. 

We board the handsome vestibuled train standing in 
the depot ready for the trip across America. We find 
the train to be a fine example of comfort, convenience 
and luxury. 

The library is particularly attractive, for here may 
be found all of the latest magazines, daily papers, and 


MINNEHAHA FALLS. 
(Between St, Paul and Minneapolis.) 




14 


A LITTLE JOURNEY TO ALASKA. 


about two hundred well selected books. Writing desks 
and tables stand invitingly about, and the massive 
plate glass windows furnish the pleasure of all the pass¬ 
ing scenery. It is a luxuriously furnished car. 

The elegant coach in which we are comfortably set¬ 
tled, is beautiful in design and coloring, and has every 
convenience for the promise of a most delightful over¬ 
land trip. 

One day out from Chicago, and we are rushing into 
St. Paul, onward in plain sight of the Falls of St. 
Anthony, and the largest flouring mills in the world. 
Now we are getting our first glimpse of the Mississippi 
River, and crossing it, steam into Minneapolis. On¬ 
ward we go, leaving Minnesota behind, and entering 
the land of the Dakotas. 

The Great Northern is taking us through a country 
of magnificent scenery. We cross no deserts or sandy 
wastes. In turn we will follow the three great rivers 
of our continent, the Mississippi, the Missouri and the 
Columbia. In fact we are crossing, in the most luxuri¬ 
ous manner, the most beautiful country between the 
Great Lakes and Puget Sound. 

Still westward, climbing the Rocky Mountains in 
Montana in full view of imposing scenery. The track 
on ledges of solid rock winds around huge peaks with 
startling suddenness. 

We have but to cross the state of Washington and 
our overland journey will be ended. Far below we can 
see the beautiful blue Columbia River, hazy and dim 
from our height. To get to the plain below we de¬ 
scend in great horse shoe curves, swinging across one 
steel trestle after another. Finally the river is reached. 


A LITTLE JOURNEY TO ALASKA 


15 



SNOWQUALMIE FALLS IN WASHINGTON. 







16 


A LITTLE JOURNEY TO ALASKA. 



A LOGGING TEAM. 


What are those im¬ 
mense rafts coming 
down the stream ? 
We look again and 
see that they are 
vast logs making 
their way to saw 
mills. 

In Washington we 
see everywhere evidences of the lumber industry. 
Giant firs and cedars keep the numerous shingle and 
saw mills busy. 

Now we steam into Seattle and at once seek our 
boat to get settled for the long voyage. But let us 
keep our eyes open and see what we can of this busy 
city from our carriage window. 

Seattle seems to be a hustling western city. Every 
person walks with a quick step, going about his busi¬ 
ness. As we ride along we see rows of fine, modern 
business blocks lining the streets. Someone tells us it 
is called the “Queen City of the West.” 

Seattle is located on Puget Sound. It is called a 
sound because its waters are shallower than the ocean 
and their depth can be quite easily told with a sounding 
line. The Sound is so nearly# surrounded by land that 
it is called “land-locked,” and this is what makes it 
such a fine harbor. The waves of the ocean cannot 
rush in and make it rough. 

The harbor is full of ships, some unloading, some 
coming slowly in. See that great ship being piled 
full of lumber to be shipped to some foreign country. 
There is one unloading tons and tons of coal. Here 





















18 A LITTLE JOURNEY TO ALASKA. 

is a ship which is going to swing up to the wharf. It 
must be a freight ship, for we can see boxes and 
boxes piled high. What is in them? Let us look 
closer. They are all marked “Alaska Salmon.” The 
hold of the ship contains more boxes and barrels. 
Safely stowed away from dampness are hundreds of 
furs packed in salt to be preserved till they reach the 
end of their journey. At Seattle they will be unloaded, 
shipped to New York and then to London to be pre¬ 
pared, dyed and ready to be made into cloaks and 
other garments. These furs, too, have come from 
Alaska, and if we could open the barrels we would find 
seal, otter, fox, mink, bear, and beaver furs. The ship 
has also a quantity of whalebone on board. 

Here comes a boat loaded with passengers on deck 
ready to land the first moment the gang plank is 
lowered. Let us look at their faces and see what we 
can tell of them. Some look very happy and eager. 
Probably they are returning from the gold fields with 
precious nuggets, or perhaps bags of gold dust they 
have washed from the beach or the rivers. Some are 
returning with fortunes. Some have a look of disap¬ 
pointment. They, too, may have been to Alaska in 
search of gold, and were not so fortunate. The gold 
is there, but many men have spent all they had and 
then found nothing. 

THE VOYAGE. 

Suddenly there is a long blow of the whistle and we 
hurry on board. The whistle sounds again, the ropes 
are cast off, the gang plank is pulled in and we are 
sailing up the waters of the Sound. 

After a short run we put into Port Townsend. Our 


A LITTLE JOURNEY TO ALASKA. 


19 


captain reports his passengers and cargo to the govern¬ 
ment officials. He gets his “clearing papers” or per¬ 
mission to leave the port, and now we are really and 
truly off for Alaska. 

To go to Alaska we do not go out upon the broad 
ocean at all, that is if we go to the places tourists 
usually do. The first city we intend to visit is the 
old capital, Sitka. Tracing the route of the northern 
steamers, we see that all the way, our ship steams 
between the coast and the islands that border it. That 
is the reason travelers to Sitka are never seasick. The 
big waves of the ocean are kept out, and the narrow 
passages of water on which our voyage is made are, 
with one or two exceptions, very quiet. About half 
way to Sitka is a passage called Seymour Narrows, 
where the tides come in at both ends and meet. At 
high tide the current is very strong, and the captain 
has to be very watchful and enter when the tide is 
going out, or his ship will be caught in the whirling 
waters and wrecked. 

Ships do not go direct to Sitka, but by way of 
Juneau and Skagway, two important cities to be visited 
later on. This takes us quite a ways north of Sitka, 
and the ship has to turn back and go around the 
southern point of Baranoff Island, on which Sitka is 
located, before reaching the port. 

Our course takes us past some of the most magni¬ 
ficent scenery in the world. We see high snow-capped 
mountains, waterfalls, and glaciers. The views are 
wild and picturesque. As we go farther north, the 
days get longer, and the nights shorter. At nine 
o’clock without lights we can see quite easily to read. 


20 


A LITTLE JOURNEY TO ALASKA. 



ALASKA’S FIRST CAPITAL 
(The Old Russian Settlement at Sitka.) 

Photograph by W H. Partridge. Published by courtesy of the Ladies Home Journal. 

Copyright 1901 by the Curtis publishing Company. 

After a voyage of over 1300 miles we sail into one 
of the prettiest bays to be seen on this or any other 
continent- The loud whistle of our steamer has told 
of our coming long before we reach the wharf, and the 
welcome tidings of “steamer day” is brought to the 
inhabitants of the old town, all of which seem to be 
down to the shore to greet us. All are eager for news 
from home, as they call the United States, and wait 
anxiously for their letters. 

SITKA. 

Many Indians are standing about the wharf, and as 
they have a large settlement here, they have wandered 
down to the boat to satisfy their curiosity. 

We have but a day to spend in Sitka, as there is no 
provision in the town for large parties of tourists. We 
leave our baggage on the boat, and start out for a day 
of sight seeing. 










/ 

































22 


A LITTLE JOURNEY TO ALASKA. 


Lincoln, the one street of Sitka, leads from the 
wharf into the town. At the head of the street, and 
but a short distance away, is the famous old Greek 
church. It is the most prominent building in the 
town and we make our first visit there. 

The great blue dome, and peculiar spire shaped like 
a slender bulb, can be seen from all parts of the town, 
and from the bay as the boat comes in. 

It is a wooden building one story high. The outside is 
plain, but the inside is very costly and beautiful. It was 
built in the old days of the Russian government, as all 



INTERIOR OF GREEK CHURCH. 

of that nationality who were here worshipped in this 
quaint little building. The Russians who are still 
here, and many of the Indians, attend this church. 
It contains many beautiful Bible pictures, framed in 
massive gold and silver. The altar decorations are 
very costly, and bright with gold trimmings. 

The chime of bells which calls to service is a wel¬ 
come sound in the quiet, sleepy old town. 

Let us now go and visit the ruins of the old castle. 








A LITTLE JOURNEY TO ALASKA. 


23 


From there we can see over the whole town and off 
into the bay. We understand from the location 
why the Russian governors chose this site for their 
castle long years ago. It was called Baranoff Castle 
in honor of one of the first governors. It was built in 
1813 of huge logs, and furnished with beautiful things 
brought from Russia. It must have been of great 
historical interest, for in 1892 our government paid 
$11,000 to have it repaired. Very soon afterward it 
caught fire and was partially destroyed. 

It was the scene of many gay parties in the old Rus¬ 
sian days, and many stories are told of the festivities 
there. The Russian officers also had a great deal of 
company and gave many banquets in the immense 
dining room, which extended the whole length of the 
mansion. 

In 1912 Alaska was formally organized as a territory, 
with a governor and a legislature of its own. The 
capital had already been moved from Sitka to Juneau 
in 1906. The city of Juneau has direct communica¬ 
tion with all of the industries of the country. It is easy 
to reach by steamer and is close to the mining districts 
of the interior. 

The population of Sitka consists of Americans and a 
tribe of Indians called Thlinkets, or, as they prefer to 
be called, Alaskans. There are now about four hundred 
of the white population, and over a thousand Indians. 

We find all nations represented among the white 
population, but most of the people are Americans. 
They live in rather small but comfortable houses, very 
plainly built, but patterned after their former homes 
in the United States. They are people of culture 


wnniuiunntHUUUIIIHIinnU 



INDIAN MERCHANTS. 































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































A LITTLE JOURNEY TO ALASKA. 25 

and refinement, and have had all of the best advan¬ 
tages of education and travel. Some have come to 
Alaska to fill government positions, some for commer¬ 
cial and trading purposes, and some through large 
mining interests. They like the country so well that 
they have decided to make their homes here always. 
They have taken with them fine libraries, handsome 
furniture, and dainty bric-a-brac, and their homes 
have an air of luxury which we are surprised to find. 
Their cordiality is charming, and the hospitality of 
many of their cozy homes is enjoyed by us in our 
short visit. 

The Indians of Sitka live to the west of the town. 
They come over to the white settlement to church, to 
school, and to sell the fancy articles which they make, 
such as hammered silverware, basket work and curios. 
With their money they make purchases of clothing, 
groceries, and—molasses. Wouldn’t it seem queer if, 
at our homes, we had to get permission from an officer 
before we could buy molasses? Yet, that is what the 
Indians of Sitka have to do, and they are then allowed 
to get only a small quantity. If they could get all of 
the molasses they wanted, they would get drunk. 
“Drunk on molasses!” you exclaim. Yes, they mix 
it with water and some other ingredients, and let it 
ferment. It makes the vilest drink you can imagine. 
They think it is delicious and call it “hoochinoo.” 
We overheard one old Indian say to the merchant. 
“Plenty molasses, plenty hoochinoo, plenty drunk; 
no molasses, no hoochinoo, no drunk.” 

We are sorry to say that they have learned this 
terrible habit from unscrupulous traders among the 


26 A LITTLE JOURNEY TO ALASKA. 



INDIAN CHIEF. 


lage. Let us follow them to their 
in what is termed “the ranche.” 


whites. Our 
government is 
very strict, and 
tries to keep 
liquor entirely 
out of thei r 
reach. It makes 
them like mad¬ 
men to get a 
drink. The wo¬ 
men are quite 
as fond of it as 
the men, and 
if liquor was at 
hand they would 
pay any price to 
get it. 

Here is a party 
of Indians who 
are leaving the 
store. They 
have finished 
their trading 
and are return¬ 
ing to their vil- 
homes, which are 


What are those queer-looking objects looming up in 
front of some of the houses? They look like great, 
thick telephone poles, only not so tall. They are*curi¬ 
ously carved from bottom to top. Let us get close to 
them and examine the carving. 










































































































































































































28 A LITTLE JOURNEY TO ALASKA. 


Perhaps we can find out about them from that 
wrinkled faced old Thlinket sitting near them. We 
ask her, and she says “Totems! Totems!” 

We learn from her that many years ago every Indian 
family who had any wealth had one of these in front 
of his door. The more riches he owned the higher he 
erected his totem. Then, too, the carvings tell the 


ALASKA INDIANS. 










A LITTLE JOURNEY TO ALASKA. 29 

history of the family. They had as great a pride in 
the totems as some people do in their coat-of-arms or 
crests. 

The carving cannot be called anything but gro¬ 
tesque. Sometimes these figures are persons, animals 
or footprints. They are always topped by a huge fig¬ 
ure of an animal or of a person’s head. If a head, 
it may be covered by a hat, so old-fashioned in shape 
as to have been worn about four hundred years ago. 
The eyes glare savagely at us, but they cannot hurt 
us. 

Some of the Indians spend much of their time in 
the winter, carving small totem poles to sell to tourists 
during the summer season. They would not part with 
those in front of their doors. They are no more will¬ 
ing to do that than we are to part with a precious 
family heirloom. But the custom of totems is passing 
away with the growing up of the young people, who 
want to do things like the Americans in every way. 

The finest totem poles in Alaska are not here in 
Sitka, but at old Fort Wrangell, which we passed 
on our voyage. If we keep a close watch, on our re¬ 
turn voyage we may see them from the boat. 

Their homes are ordinary frame houses one and 
two stories in height, facijig the street, and put up 
with regularity. These houses are homely, but they are 
comfortable, and most of them well furnished. They 
have tables, chairs, bedroom sets, lamps and mirrors. 
They have bought these from naval officers or govern¬ 
ment officials, who, on going away, sold their house¬ 
hold goods. An Indian owns the finest sideboard in 
Sitka. It is used for a cupboard and clothes press. 


30 


A LITTLE JOURNEY TO ALASKA. 


We find most of the houses partitioned off into 
rooms, but when the missionaries first went there 
scarcely any family had more than one room. 

Their houses are all white-washed outside and inside 
for the sake of cleanliness At first, the government 
officials had to force the Indians to do this, by fining 
them if they did not. An Indian thinks a fine is a 
most terrible punishment. He doesn’t mind being 
locked up, but he does hate to part with his money. 

The Alaskan Indians are not noted for their natural 
cleanliness, but their condition is continually improv¬ 
ing. This has been brought about by the tidy habits 
the children have formed in school. We will visit the 
mission schools when we return to the other part of 
the town, for, you remember, they are located down 
by the beach on that pretty road. 

The Indians dress “United States fashion,” as they 
call it. In every thing they want to pattern after our 
country. . It has been a great help to their condition 
that they have such a pride. 

Formerly they dressed in blankets. Some of the 
wealthiest wore beautiful blankets, for which they 
often traded articles which to them were worth large 
sums. They still own blankets, but use them in orna¬ 
mentation rather than as necessary clothing. 

The beautiful blankets are the Chilkat, made by a 
tribe by that name. These Indians live some distance 
farther north. The blankets which they make are 
from the wool of mountain goats. They dye the wool 
brilliant colors and weave them into fancy designs. 
The borders are rich and heavy and finished on one side 
by a deep fringe almost as wide as the blanket itself. 


A LITTLE JOURNEY TO ALASKA. 


31 


These they still wear at all public ceremonies, and 
feel very aristocratic in their handsome costumes. 
When we try to buy one and find that many of them 
bring $100, we do not wonder that they are proud of 
them. 

The pride in blankets is peculiar, not only to the 
Sitkans, but to all of the Indian tribes of Alaska, ex¬ 
cept the Eskimo of the far north. We will visit him 
later and see also how he lives and dresses. 

The Alaskan Indians marry now the same as all 
other civilized people do. The missionary often per¬ 
forms the ceremony. Sometimes it is the Russian 
priest. 

The young people who have had a good chance in 
the mission schools, make very happy homes, and take 
with them customs which help to improve the habits 
of their parents. 

Formerly, marriage was looked upon as a trade, and 
the trade was nearly always made with blankets. 
Sometimes the bridegroom had to give as many as a 
hundred blankets to get his bride. Then the father of 
the bride was required to give in return to the family 
of the bridegroom, a present worth at least half as 
much as the blankets. 

The girl had to remain in seclusion for months before 
her marriage, often fasting for several days at a time. 
During this long period she always worked industri¬ 
ously making baskets, blankets, or bead moccasins. 

At the ceremony the relatives and friends assembled. 
The bride was dressed in a gay blanket. The cere¬ 
mony consisted of presents, a feast, and speech mak¬ 
ing, but you must remember that the bridegroom was 


32 


A LITTLE JOURNEY TO ALASKA. 


not there. After the guests were all gone, he was sent 
for. He came, and was always dressed in his oldest 
blanket. His bride then presented him with a hand¬ 
some new one. He smoked for ten minutes in silence, 
and then the couple left for their new home. 

The Alaskan Indian women have always been treated 
with much more kindness than those of any of the other 
native tribes. They are shown no special affection, 
but a great deal of respect. The women are consulted 
in business, and many of them take care of the money 
for the family. 

They are said to be very shrewd in making trades, 
and when much is at stake, the men generally leave 
the women to finish the bargains. 

These Indians are a social people, and in the course 
of our walk about their village, they invite us to a 
dance in the evening. This promises to be something 
unusual, and with much anticipation we accept. 

Probably nowhere in our travels will we see such 
absurd performances. Their manner of dancing differs 
from that of any we have ever seen. As a rule they 
plant their feet firmly on the floor, and with their 
knees slightly bent, sway about in a ridiculous way. 
Once in a while they bound forward or turn with a 
sudden jerk. The men are much more violent in their 
movements than the women. 

The part which attracts us most is their dress. 
Their handsomest blankets are worn. This gives us 
an opportunity to see some of those famous and costly 
Chilkat blankets. They also adorn their heads with 
queer looking hats. Some of them are cone shaped 
and made of woven bark and roots. Some of the hats 


A LITTLE JOURNEY TO ALASKA. 33 

are trimmed with ermine skins. Some of them wear 
curiously shaped and painted masks. If they do not 
wear masks they paint their faces with black and red 
stripes. Each dancer is dressed as gorgeously as his 
means will afford. Many carry whistles, rattles or 
drums, and make all the noise they can. In a Sitkan 
dance, the more din and uproar, the finer the dance is 
supposed to be. 

If their dances are so amusing, what must their 
theatres be? Yet, it is said that they get up theatri¬ 
cals of a most entertaining nature. Each one tries to 
represent himself in dress and actions as a certain 
character. “The Evil Spirit,” “Summer,” “Whale 
Killer,” “Halibut,” “Bear,” or “Mt. St. Elias,” are 
some of the favorite impersonations. 

They creep, hop, bend, spin around like a top, or do 
any movement to represent their part. Each during 
his performance sings a song. And what wild, weird 
singing! They start in the highest key they can reach, 
and drop suddenly to the lowest. It is almost impos¬ 
sible for a white man to learn one of their tunes. Yet 
they are very fond of music. 

The women have a song called “The Berry Pickers.” 
When they are berrying they sing this to scare away 
the bears. It is a wonder that it doesn’t scare all of 
the game out of the country. 

CHILD LIFE. 

One of the first things we notice in “the ranche” 
is the large number of happy children playing 
about. 

The little Thlinkets enjoy themselves playing out of 
doors from morning to night. Rain or shine, it is all 


34 


A LITTLE JOURNEY TO ALASKA. 


the same. On rainy days they can play in the mud 
puddles, and on sunny days they can play in the 
sand. 



INDIAN BABIES. 

Pappoose. 

The babies are much loved, and tenderly treated. 
Their little bodies are rubbed and rubbed with 
oil, and they are wrapped in soft mosses and 
blankets. 

They play about the door step when they are old 
enough to toddle, fall down and cry, get under peo¬ 
ple’s feet, and eat bread and sugar just the same as 







A LITTLE JOURNEY TO ALASKA. 


35 


their little white brothers in the other part of the 
town do. 

When they are older they cram their little stomachs 
with wild berries, which grow here so plentifully. 
They go down to the beach in their bare feet and wade 
about, floating little chips for boats and playing “be a 
fisherman. " 

Probably the boys don't have any more fun than the 
girls. The boys play ball and tag, and the girls dress 
their dolls. They often make their own, and they love 
them none the less because their heads are made out 
of smooth pebbles. 

They play many very happy games and get much 
fun out of the guessing ones, of which there are many. 
We learn one which is called the game of “Ha-goo." 

Do you want to know how to play it? You can't 
play unless you keep a sober face. See if you can do it. 

Choose sides and name a leader. Both sides form 
in line facing each other. The leader goes forward 
carrying a stick with a bright rag floating from it. A 
little girl from the opposite side comes to meet him, 
and carry off the banner. She must keep a sober face,, 
while all on the opposite side laugh, and make faces, 
and comical speeches. If she smiles, she is “out," and 
can't play. This is kept up until one only is left. He 
is the victor, and his side wins the game. 

While the children are young they must begin to 
work, because they expect to have homes of their own 
and must learn how to provide for their families. 

The boys are taught many things in school, but out¬ 
side they learn to fish and hunt. They learn to skill¬ 
fully manage a canoe even in the stormiest weather. 


36 


A LITTLE JOURNEY TO ALASKA. 



INDIAN BOY. 

The girls learn how to keep house, and clean and 
cook the game which their brothers bring home. They 
pick berries and dry them for winter, and also learn to 
sew and embroider. When a little girl has learned how 
to do all of these things well, she has a party. The boys 
are invited with the girls. The little hostess must 
cook everything which they have for their feast. After 
they eat they go down to the beach and have a great 
frolic. After all, it isn’t so bad to be a little Indian 
boy or girl. Is it? 

THE MISSION SCHOOLS. 

When the Russians owned the country they had 
schools for the whites, but none for the Indians. After 
the United States bought Alaska the schools were 











A LITTLE JOURNEY TO ALASKA. 37 

forgotten for eleven years. It was through the efforts 
of the missionaries that they were reopened. 

When they first came to Alaska from our country r 
they found the Indians in a very different condition 
from which we see them. They had their superstitious 
belief in the “evil spirit/' and such a thing as going 
to church never entered their heads. They spent 
their Sundays the same as any other day, in hunting 
and fishing. Some spent their time carving and some 
in drinking and rioting. It looked rather hopeless to* 
get such people to church. How do you suppose it 
was done? By asking them? No. The plan of the 
missionaries was a beautiful one. 

They secured some old Russian barracks. They 
were nearly falling to pieces, but it was the best they 
could do. They gathered there one Sabbath morning 
and began to sing the Moody and Sankey hymns. 
They had purposely left the door open, and soon the 
Indians began to gather about. No one noticed them, 
and so they stole in one by one. They were charmed 
with the music. In a short time there were one 
hundred and fifty Indians seated on the floor in front 
of the singers. What a queer looking congregation 
they must have been! They were dressed in blankets, 
and many of their faces were painted black and red. 

The missionaries talked to them, but of course 
they could not have understood a word, if it had not 
been interpreted for them by a kind Russian. They 
sang more songs, and then told more Bible stories. 
The service lasted for hours, and the Indians sat, 
listening quietly. 

These Indians told the others, and the next Sunday 


38 


A LITTLE JOURNEY TO ALASKA. 


there were many more, but talking was very difficult 
because the Indians could not understand, The 
Indians were so interested that they wanted to learn 
to speak English, and so the first plans were made for 
a mission school. 

When the first school was started, how do you sup¬ 
pose it looked? Do you think it was in a pretty, neat 
little school house? It was in one room of an old 
rickety building. Fifty Indian men, women, and 
children were at the door the first morning, curious 
and eager to see what would be done. 

Let us see how the school room was furnished. 
There were no desks. Two tables were all that could 
be supplied. There were twenty benches, a stove, 
two brooms, one box of chalk, and an old, warped 
piece of blackboard which a kind priest loaned them. 

What did they do for books? Among all the white 
people there were found only six primers. These six 
books had to be used for fifty people, but the earnest 
teacher knew how to manage. He taught them from 
the old blackboard, and they learned so well that in 
one month thirteen could read in the primers, and 
twenty-five knew all of the letters. 

The school grew every day and .in a short time the 
teacher had three hundred pupils. Think of one 
teacher with three hundred pupils! But after a while 
he had some help and then they learned still faster. 

These Indians, many of them grown up men and 
women, had never been to school before, and they had 
many bad habits. One of them was— tardiness. They 
would straggle in at all hours in the morning, and the 
teacher was very much troubled by it. Finally he 


A LITTLE JOURNEY TO ALASKA. 39 

broke them of it. How do you suppose he did it? 
You never can guess, so we must tell you. 

The Indians were happier in learning to write than 
in doing anything else. They could not bear to miss 
one minute of this delightful lesson. So the teacher 
had the writing lesson the very first thing in the 
morning, and you may be sure that the Indians hur¬ 
ried around to be there on time. In this way they 
were completely broken of the habit. 

The most interesting part of their school life was the 
founding of the industrial schools. The nicest story 
of all is that these large, white, neatly painted school 
buildings came about through the children’s eagerness 
to live in a cozy home, and learn from the printed 
books. 

We must not forget that only a few years ago in 
“the ranche” the houses were dirty, and many lived 
in one house, which probably had but one room. The 
boys thought the old school room so delightful, so 
neat and attractive, that they begged to stay there 
all of the time. They did not want to go back to the 
crowded, noisy homes at night. They said they would 
take care of themselves, hunt their own food, sleep on 
the floor in their blankets, and jump about if they 
were cold. So they were allowed to do so. 

The boys kept their promises. They washed in the 
ocean, and used a piece of tin for a looking glass. 
They caught salmon and packed it for winter food. 
They made little gardens about the school and grew 
potatoes and cabbages. They also made curios which 
were sent to the United States and sold. This money 
bought them clothes and books. 


40 


A LITTLE JOURNEY TO ALASKA. 


When the people of our great, rich country realized 
how these neglected children were trying to help them¬ 
selves, they sent them money for a school building. 
They also sent them an organ, a bell, a cook stove, 
and quite a number of little beds to furnish a dormi¬ 
tory for the boys. 

The boys were now perfectly happy; but one day 
the building caught fire. If we could only have seen 
them then! They never thought of themselves or 
their own little belongings, but rushed about trying to 
save their teacher’s things. One boy dashed through 
the fire crying: “I will save my teacher’s furniture if 
I die in the flames. I am not afraid to die!” 

When they could do no more, they stood about and 
wept. Yes, the grown up Indian men actually cried 
when they saw the beloved school in ruins. 

But now the best thing of all happened to them. 
The missionaries secured enough money to build a 
larger, handsomer building than before, and furnish it 
completely. Since then, more buildings have been 
put up, a separate one for the girls, and a shop where 
the boys can learn all of the trades. The girls learn 
to sew and to keep house, and these children have so 
much pride in doing things well, that upon leaving 
school they take all of that beautiful way into their 
parents’ homes, and that is what has made this Indian 
city known for its thrift and industry. 

The Presbyterian Board of Missions has worked 
faithfully all of these years to help their founder, Dr. 
Sheldon Jackson, to improve the condition of the 
natives.' Our government has aided them and the school 
and church advantages are growing better all the time. 


A LITTLE JOURNEY TO ALASKA. 


41 



SUNSET AT SITKA, ALASKA. 







42 


A LITTLE JOURNEY TO ALASKA. 


There are two other large mission schools in Alaska 
and several smaller ones widely scattered. One at New 
Metlakahtla, passed on our voyage, and founded by Mr. 
William Duncan. He went alone, the only white man 
among them, and taught them in books, and how to 
live. It is now a fine village of intelligent, industrious 
natives of the Haida tribe. There is also a large and 
flourishing mission for the Tinnehs of the interior, at 
Koserefski, on the Yukon River. This is supported by 
the Catholic church. 

Before leaving the mission grounds, let us step into 
Jackson Museum, named for the founder of the schools. 
It is fitted up like the home of a native chief, with a 
totem pole at the entrance. Inside we see a large col¬ 
lection of interesting specimens. These were collected 
from all parts of Alaska, and give us a good idea of 
the products of the country. Many of them were 
gathered by Dr. Jackson in his travels about all parts 
of the territory. 

We have visited all of the interesting points in 
Sitka, and have learned much of the people of Alaska, 
but Sitka is not all of this great country, and we must 
be moving on to the largest city in Alaska, and its 
capital, Juneau. 

JUNEAU, THE LARGEST CITY IN ALASKA. 

The trip from Sitka to Juneau is made through 
narrow, rocky passages, one so dangerous as to be 
called Peril Strait. 

We look at our maps and find Juneau north and 
east of Sitka. It is situated on the mainland of North 
America. 

Before we get into Juneau let us notice the situation. 


A LITTLE JOURNEY TO ALASKA. 


43 



Photograph by W. H. Partridge. Copyright by Ladies' Home Journal. 

A FAMOUS ALASKAN MINING CENTRE—THE TOWN OF JUNEAU. 


Tall, dark mountains rise behind it. It seems to 
snuggle at the base, and the buildings are so thick 
that they look as though they would be pushed out 
into the bay. 

The whole town apparently is down to meet the 
boat. “Steamer day” is looked for as eagerly here as 
in Sitka. 

Juneau is quite a city. It has a population of 
twenty-five hundred people, besides the settlement of 
Auk Indians on its outskirts. 

It is a modern city having fine water works, and 
electric lights. 

Juneau is not so old a town as Sitka, but it has 
grown fast, because it was, for a time, the place where 
most of the Klondike miners purchased their supplies. 
Now there is a town still nearer to the mining district, 
and Juneau will not continue to grow as fast. But it 
is a thriving city, and the people all go about with an 
air of business. 







44 


A LITTLE JOURNEY TO ALASKA, 


The homes are put up for comfort. They are very 
plain, and the streets are few. 

THE AUK INDIANS. 

The Indian suburb of Juneau is not reached by t. 



AUK INDIAN CAMP. 


street. If we visit that we will have to go up the bay 
about one-half mile. Here are some Indian canoes. 
Let us get in and be rowed to the settlement. 

We do not find the Auk Indians as far advanced as 
those of Sitka. Soap is an unknown thing to them. 
Instead of it they use oil. Every day they rub on a 
fresh coat of grease. You can imagine that they are 
not very attractive. 

The most interesting place to visit in their village is 
the cemetery. Instead of following the custom of the 










A LITTLE JOURNEY TO ALASKA. 45 

United States as the Sitkan Indians do, the Auks cre¬ 
mate the bodies of their dead, and place the ashes in 
small log huts. On each hut is a hideous, carved 
figure, with glaring eyes and open mouth. (See p. 21.) 

It is a good thing that the Auks burn their dead, 
for on account of their unclean habits, it makes them 
less liable to disease. When the missionaries can get 


to work among them, we will see a great change in this 
primitive settlement. 

Back to Juneau we are rowed in the canoes, but 


SILVER BOW CANON, JUNEAU. 






46 


A LITTLE JOURNEY TO ALASKA. 



before leaving we follow a wild, picturesque road lead¬ 
ing back from the town to the Silver Bow Mines. 
These mines furnish large quantities of silver. 

Besides gold and silver, the other important mineral 
products of Alaska are tin, which has been found near 
Cape Prince of Wales; coal, which is present in great 
quantities; copper, lead, marble, gypsum, and petro¬ 
leum. The development of these resources was made 
practicable by the building of the Alaskan railroads. 

PASSING THE FAMOUS TREADWELL GOLD MINE. 

Juneau is left behind. Our boat is headed north 
for the town of Skagway. As we go around the south 
point of Douglas Island we can see the buildings of 
the famous Treadwell gold mines. The reason that we 


vopyngni oy /I. V. riusoury. Jtrom JLaaies Home Journal, by courtesy of the Publishers- 

VIEW FROM MOUNT DEWEY, SHOWING SKAGWAY AND THE LYNN CANAL. 



A LITTLE JOURNEY TO ALASKA. 


47 


notice this is because all about the buildings and the 
sides of the mountains the trees are bleached almost 
white from the fumes of the smoke rising from the 
works which are in operation day and night. 

The owners of this great gold mine have refused to 
sell it for $ 16 , 000 , 000 . 

It is an easy mine to work. Instead of si nking 
shafts they tunnel into the side of the mountain. 

You must not think that this is the place where all 
of the miners rushed during the gold fever in Alaska. 
The land about this mine is all owned, and gold seekers 
nearly always search for unclaimed spots. Then all of 
the gold they get from the ground is theirs. 

SKAGWAY, THE STARTING POINT FOR THE KLONDIKE. 

Sixty miles of sailing northward, and we are at Skag- 
way beach. Let us take our maps and see the loca¬ 
tion. The city is at the head of Lynn Canal on an 
inlet called Chilcoot. Across the canal on the opposite 
side is Chilcat, where the beautiful blankets are made. 
The town is full of life. The population is four thou¬ 
sand, and all of these people have come here through 
their interest in the gold fields. We have come by the 
very route we would if we were seeking our fortunes. 

The houses of Skagway have been hurriedly built to 
accommodate the increasing population. 

Hundreds of people are getting their supplies packed 
ready to leave for the interior. It is only within a 
year that there was any comfortable way to go. 
Miners had to hire Indians to carry their belongings 
over the mountains, either on their backs or on sleds. 
Sometimes they were too poor to hire them, and had 
to do it themselves. Terrible storms would sometimes 


48 


A LITTLE JOURNEY TO ALASKA. 


set in, and they would have to make a hut in the 
snow and stay for a week, living on dry flour and bacon. 

Here is a crowd of men all ready for the journey. 
Let us get a miner to open his pack so that we may 
peep in and see the contents. 

What a load of provisions! Flour, bacon, baking 
powder, beans, dried fruit, desiccated vegetables, butter, 
sugar, condensed milk, tea, coffee, salt, pepper, mus¬ 
tard, matches, cooking utensils, dishes, a sheet iron 



YUKONER AND STICK INDIANS PASSING THROUGH CANYON DYEA. 


stove, woolen and rubber blankets, oilskin bags, tools 
for boat building, rubber boots, snow glasses, medi¬ 
cines, and mosquito netting. 

Think of packing such a load over the mountains, 
wading through deep snow, in the face of cold and 
storms. 




A LITTLE JOURNEY TO ALASKA. 


49 


ALASKAN RAILROADS. 

When gold was first discovered in the Klondike, 
Alaska had no railroads. The White Pass and Yukon, 
extending along the Klondike trail, was the first to be 
built, carrying gold seekers to the gold fields. By 1913, 
eight other short lines had been added. The greatest 
line of all is the United States government railroad, 
completed in 1922 at a total cost of about $52,000,000. 
It was established to develop the rich Matanuska coal 
region, which it connects with the Pacific seaboard. 
It includes two short lines, the Alaska Northern and 
the Tanana Valley roads, which the government pur¬ 
chased, with a line which it built outright. 

THE KLONDIKE GOLD REGION. 

Let us again take our maps and find just where the 
rich gold fields of the Klondike are located. First 
find the great Yukon River just over the boundary of 
Alaska in Canada. Look where the line 64° north 
latitude crosses 140° west longitude. It is about here 
that the Klondike River joins the Yukon, and along 
that river and in the mountains are the Klondike gold 
fields. 

Dawson City, of which so much was written in the 
papers, is at the mouth of the river. It sprung up 
like a mushroom in 1897, when gold seekers began to 
rush to the north. 

The mining of the Klondike is placer mining. Do 
you know what that is? A miner takes his pick, 
shovel and pan and goes, sometimes all alone, digging 
and picking in the creeks and rivers. He lifts up a 
pan of sand and looks anxiously for the glistening 


50 


A LITTLE JOURNEY TO ALASKA. 


grains of gold. He rinses and rinses the sand. By 
skillful dipping he finally gets all of the sand out and 
has only the gold in the bottom of the pan. Some¬ 
times he will find flakes as big as a pumpkin seed. 
Such are worth from three to ten dollars apiece. 
Sometimes he is disappointed and gets nothing. It is 
a hard life, even if one makes a fortune. Don’t you 
think so? 



Copyright by Curtis Publishing Co. Published by permission from Ladies' Home Journal. 

MILES CANON, NORTHWEST TERRITORY, ON THE WAY TO THE KLONDIKE. 
(Photograph by Y. Cleveland.) 


At Dawson City we overlook the waters of the 
Yukon where the Klondike River j oins it. The Yukon 
is now used for carrying freight, ore, and passengers, 
such as want to get back by way of the Pacific. Ocean, 





A LITTLE JOURNEY TO ALASKA. 










. 52 


A LITTLE JOURNEY TO ALASKA. 


or who want to go still farther north. This river is 
the only means of travel from the interior to the 
Behring Sea coast, but it is too early in the season 
for boats to go on the river, on account of the ice. It 
will be June before trade opens up on the river. 

The open season lasts from three to three and a half 
months. The importance of the Yukon as a factor in 
navigation is shown by the fact that together with the 
Kuskokwim River, it provides a total of 5,000 miles 
of navigable water. Though it has a shallow mouth 
and a shifting channel, it may be navigated by an 
ordinary river boat as far as White Horse in Canada— 
a distance of 2,200 miles. 

THE MUIR GLACIER. 

Southward and westward we go through Icy Strait 
to Glacier Bay. Let us trace our route on the map, 
and if we cannot find the name of the bay, we can 
find Mt. Fairweather, which overlooks it. 

During our voyage we had glimpses of glaciers 
several times, but now we are face to face with one. 
It is the most beautiful and wonderful glacier in the 
world. It is called the Muir, and is named after Prof. 
John Muir, who spent months on it, and afterwards 
wrote what he had learned about it. 

Our boat, with many bumps against the icebergs in 
the bay, sails quite close to the front of the glacier 
and we have a grand view of it. 

As we stand on the deck looking forward, we can 
hardly believe that so much ice is gathered in one 
place. 

A great wall of ice with broken front and jagged 
top faces us. We look up, and the peaks, reaching so 


A LITTLE JOURNEY TO ALASKA. 


53 


high, seem like mountains. We turn our heads and 
see the white, glistening ice far away on either side. 
But this is not all. The captain tells us that it 
reaches down, down beneath the water six hundred 
feet. From him we learn also that the peaks are 
between three and four hundred feet high. A thou¬ 
sand feet from top to bottom, and over one mile wide! 

Listen! What is that terrible roaring noise? It 
sounds like a cannon. There goes a perfect mountain 
of ice, tumbling into the bay, from the front of the 
glacier. We understand now what the noise was. 


VIEW OF THE MUIR GLACIER. 
(Photograph by F. Jay Haynes & Bro.) 



Copyright by Curtis Publishing Co. Published by courtesy of Ladies' Home Journal. 





54 


A LITTLE JOURNEY TO ALASKA, 


This huge chunk of ice, called an iceberg, plunges 
and rocks about, tossing our ship like an eggshell on 



CREVASSE IN A GLACIER. 


the great waves. The spray is thrown above the 
masts, and all the sea about us is in a tumult. 










A LITTLE JOURNEY TO ALASKA. 


55 


Gradually the iceberg becomes more quiet, and drifts 
away, out to the open sea. 

The continual breaking off of the immense blocks of 
ice, causes the front of the glacier to be always chang¬ 
ing. Sometimes you fancy you can see the turrets 
of castles. They glisten in the sun like precious 
gems. 

By taking a boat from our ship we can land and go 
to the top of this ice river. Railings and a plank walk 
have been put here to help tourists. But when we get 
to the top we must be very careful in walking about. 
Crevasses , which are gorges of unknown depth, are in 
unexpected places. 

We look about, and all we see is ice. Our guide 
informs us that the Muir glacier is about forty miles 
long, with nine large and seventeen smaller streams of 
ice uniting with it. 

We cannot see it move, but we know that it does. 
That has been proved by the driving of stakes. Scien¬ 
tists who have observed it carefully, say that it moves 
about seven feet each day. That seems very slow to us, 
but it is considered very fast traveling for a glacier. 

There are very few moraines on the Muir glacier. The 
moraines are the dirt, stones, and rubbish which the 
glacier shoves before it as it moves slowly along. One 
reason that this glacier is so beautiful is because it is a 
mass of almost pure, glistening, crystal ice. 

MT. ST. ELIAS. 

We leave the glacier behind us and start westward. 
Our next stopping place is the large island of Kadiak, 
where we will find the greatest salmon fisheries in the 
world. Let us consult our map in the Little Journeys 




56 A LITTLE JOURNEY TO ALASKA. 







A LITTLE JOURNEY TO ALASKA. 57 

and get the location of this island lying close to the 
long, rocky peninsula of the southwest coast. 

We skirt the shore, and on our way for many miles 
we are in full view of towering Mt. St. Elias. You 
can see its location on the map just at the point 
where the great mass of Alaska joins the chain of 
islands to the southeast. Part of the mountain is in 
Alaska, and part in Canada. 

It stands there cold and lonely, covered with snow. 
There is a fearful stillness all about, except when an 
avalanche goes tearing down its side. Avalanches are 
very different from glaciers. Away up on the side, 
perhaps near the top of the mountain, the snow and 
ice become loose and start to slide. As they go 
they gather more snow, ice, loose stones, and even 
large rocks. The larger the mass, the faster it slides, 
breaking down trees and everything before it. The 
noise is like thunder and the very earth seems torn 
open. 

Moving quietly and slowly down the sides of Mt. St. 
Elias, in great contrast to the avalanche, are glaciers, 
eleven in all. Some of these are to be seen from the 
deck of our ship. 

SALMON FISHING AT KADIAK. 

Here we are at Kadiak Island. Did you find it on 
your maps? We will go at once to the canneries. 

We are surprised to see Chinamen at work packing 
and sealing the cans. They are employed by the 
American companies who own the establishments, be¬ 
cause they work for such small wages. The Indians 
catch the fish and do the chores which require no 
skill. These Indians, which are Aleuts, and with 


58 


A LITTLE JOURNEY TO ALASKA. 


whose habits we will soon become acquainted, can do 
far more difficult things than to can salmon. Later 
we shall see. 

What quantities of cans! Let us count them and 
see how many there are in a case. Four dozen. Let 
us ask the foreman how many cases they ship out in 
one season. He tells us that there are between one 
hundred and two hundred canneries in Alaska, and that 
altogether they ship on an average of about 5,000,000 
cases annually. This means that Alaska produces for 
export approximately 240,000,000 cans of salmon each 
year, shipping to all parts of the United States and to 
some parts of Europe and Asia. 

When we get home, let us look on the cans at our 
grocer’s and see if our.salmon comes from Alaska. 

The Indians tell us that the salmon does not come 
from the ocean, but from small rivers on the island. 

One small river about 
sixty feet wide fur¬ 
nishes this cannery with 
more than enough for 
its business. 

In the spring the 
salmon go up the river 
to deposit their eggs. 
They come in such 
droves that they fill 
the river so full as to 
almost dam it up. They 
are in such a hurry that they actually climb over each 
other, with their fins sticking out of the water. The 
natives haul them in, but there are such numbers that 



A SALMON CATCH. 










A LITTLE JOURNEY TO ALASKA. 


59 



all cannot be used. In their crowding, thousands are 
pushed upon the shore, and lie there to decay. 

It surprises us to learn that in Alaska there are over 
one hundred varieties of fish. Among them are cod, 
halibut, herring, and smelt, but salmon leads all in 
numbers, and also as a money-making business for the 
people. 

Before our ship leaves, thousands of boxes are put 
aboard to be carried back to the United States, as we 
do not stop at the island on our return. 

The chief food of the inhabitants of this island is fish, 
especially salmon. We are treated to slices of deli¬ 
cious salmon steak, such as we could not find in our 
home markets. 


Copyright by Henry G. Bryant. From Ladies' Home Journal, by permission of publishers. 
ONE OF ALASKA’S MOST ELEVATED PEAKS-MOUNT ST. ELIAS. 










60 


A LITTLE JOURNEY TO ALASKA. 


OFF FOR THE SEAL AND SEA OTTER ISLANDS. 

Do you remember that long arm of islands reaching 
into the Pacific ocean almost over to Asia? That is 
where we are going now, and in all Alaska we will 
meet nothing more interesting than the people and ani¬ 
mals of these islands. It will give us a better idea of 
their extent when we know that they, with the pen¬ 
insula, cover a distance of almost two thousand 
miles—a lonely, desolate region, having almost no 
trees, and many volcanoes. 

We remember the burning mountains of Mexico, and 
here in the far north are some of their brothers. 

Shishaldin rises directly from the sea to a height of 
nearly 9000 feet. It sends out a stream of white vapor 
constantly, but has thrown out no lava for many years. 

Many of these islands are uninhabited except by the 
native animals and one man. This we think is very 
strange. It is told us by a fur trader on board our 
ship. He also tells us that when the fur companies 
lease these various islands, they have to put a guard 
on each to protect their rights. They hire a native of 
a neighboring island, and he often spends a lifetime as 
guard on the island. He builds himself a hut and sees 
no one for months, and then only as a boat stops with 
provisions, or some hunters hired by the company come 
to the island in pursuit of game or fish. What a lonely 
life! Think what it would be to be a hermit on a sol¬ 
itary island! 

The inhabitants of the Aleutian islands are called 
Aleuts. They are a race of hunters. Shall we think 
of them as fierce? No more gentle people exist than this 
docile race of Indians. As we shall see them catching 


A LITTLE JOURNEY TO ALASKA. 61 

the sea otter and the seal, we are interested in the 
training the men must have to become expert hunters. 
They are naturally muscular and strong, but not very 
tall. The strength in their arms becomes wonderful, 
as they almost live in a canoe from boyhood. Think 
how they must manage their boats in the great ocean 
waves. They must be able to turn about in an instant, 
and go forward or backward at a moment’s notice. 

Exposure to all kinds of weather from infancy, makes 
them hardy. No watermen in the world can endure 
so much cold, and manage boats with such dexterity 
as they. 

Their stomachs must be accustomed to fasts, and 
to the severest hardships. They live much on cold 
food, which is often raw, for when they go to hunt the 
sea otter they can build no fire. The smell of fire, or 
of the food cooking would drive every otter from these 
islands. 

They are subjected to dangers to make them brave, 
for their life is often threatened in the capture of the 
animals. 

They must have tact. Do you know what that 
means? Well, they must have good sense and know 
how to use it, for the fur bearing animals are very 
shrewd, and cannot be secured by awkward, unskillful 
movements. 

SEAL HUNTING. 

The Aleutians are the famous hunters of the seal. 
Let us go with them to their hunting grounds, the 
Pribiloff Islands, a little group north of the long rocky 
peninsula in Behring Sea. 

The group consists of four islands. The two larger 


62 


A LITTLE JOURNEY TO ALASKA. 


ones are St. Paul and St. George, and the two smaller 
ones are Otter and Walrus islands. St. Paul has a 
length of thirteen miles with a breadth of four, and St. 
George has a length of ten and a breadth of five miles. 

It is an interesting fact that four-fifths of the seal 
skins sold in all of the cities of the world, come from 
these small islands of Alaska. 

One thing which we must remember is that a dense 
fog envelops these islands of the north Pacific during 
the breeding season, which is the late spring or early 
summer. This is very favorable for the seals, as they 
are unable to bear the heat of the summer sun. Do 
you suppose that their heavy fur coats have anything 
to do with it? 

The seals come to the islands in great herds. They 
have long slender bodies, which taper towards the tail. 
Their small heads look like those of dogs with the ears 
cut off. They have large, soft, sad-looking eyes. The 
short, front limbs make the paws seem close to the 
bodies; the hind limbs are turned backward on each 
side of the tail. The paws are covered with skin 
stretched between the fingers. These they use as pad¬ 
dles, but the hind limbs are their chief dependence in 
swimming. They are very graceful in the water, and 
can stay under the water for twenty minutes at a time. 

Seals are very affectionate to their young, and care 
for them tenderly. When the baby seals are about six 
weeks old the mother takes them to the water to teach 
them to swim. They need much coaxing before they 
will venture in, but after they have tried the water 
they are very happy in it. When they get quite strong 
and are able to swim a long distance, they swim 


A LITTLE JOURNEY TO ALASKA. 


63 


away with their mothers into the broad Pacific, no one 
knows where, for they are seldom seen except on these 
islands. 

We have read a great deal in the papers about the 
“seal fisheries” of Alaska, but there is no fishing in 
catching the seal. 

The seals come up on the islands and sit about on 
the rocks. The young males are apt to go farther back 
from the shore than the families. This is fortunate 
for the hunters, for it is the young males they are 
after. The “bachelors,” or those about four years old 
are preferred. 

The hunters creep in between the families and the 
young males and drive them farther inland. If they 
find one too young, he is given a gentle tap on the 
nose and is allowed to escape. As they are driven 
they move slowly, for they drag themselves along by 
their flippers. They can travel about a mile in one 
hour. 

When they arrive at the slaughter grounds, about 
twenty at one time are separated from the herd, which 
sometimes numbers between one and three thousand. 
Then the work of killing begins. A few men, with 
strong clubs, go about among them stunning them 
with a violent blow on the head. Some other men 
with sharp knives follow. With these they aim at the 
heart. Life ends instantly. It is a humane method. 
There is no blundering of the men, and no suffering of 
the animals. 

Another set of men follows. With the same skill, 
they cut the skin from the seal, leaving the head and 
flippers on the carcass. 


64 


A LITTLE JOURNEY TO ALASKA. 



Then the wives and daughters of the sealers follow 
and cut out the great blubbers. As they carry them 
away it is impossible to keep the oil from dripping all 
about them. We may have some idea of the size of 
the carcass when we are told that the full grown male 
seals weigh between two and three hundred pounds, 
and measure six or seven feet in length. The females 
are about five feet in length and weigh about a 
hundred pounds. 

After the killing, the pelts are packed in salt and 
shipped to London in England. There they have the 
best process of curing and dyeing them. We under¬ 
stand now why many ladies will not have a seal coat 
unless it has the London dye. They want the best: 

There are very strict laws against killing the 
females, and the fur companies are obliged to sign a 











A LITTLE JOURNEY TO ALASKA. (55 

contract- with oux government to take only a limited 
number of seals from the islands each season. This is 
because unscrupulous companies slaughtered them by 
the wholesale, and threw what they could not use 
into the sea, which nearly drove the seals from their 
favorite grounds. 

The last of July the fur companies send ships for 
their precious cargoes. Do you remember how we 
saw the furs packed away when we peeped into that 
ship in Seattle harbor? 

The ships cannot come up to the shores, owing to 
the shallowness of the water. The natives have to 
take loads of the skins in their canoes to the ship, 
which brings them to the United States, from whence 
they are sent to London. 

For their work of selecting, driving, killing, skin¬ 
ning and packing, the sealers receive forty cents per 
head. Though this may seem a small sum, many of 
the Aleuts earn from one to two thousand dollars each 
year. It seems to us that they should get quite rich, 
for they have few ways to spend their money. Their 
habits are simple, and their food consists mainly of a 
fish diet. 

The mission schools there must bring them much 
happiness, for they are naturally a very intelligent 
race. 

SEA LIONS. 

We should not think of sea lions as seals. They 
also resort to these islands, especially St. Paul's, so let 
us see where the difference lies. 

After the sealing season is over, the Aleuts go to 
capture the lions. 


66 


A LITTLE JOURNEY TO ALASKA. 


When attacked the males are very fierce. They 
show their long teeth. Their roar is terrible. They 
are large, and in size may be compared to a horse. 

Although the males fight ferociously with each other, 
all are very fond of a frolic. We know how they sport 
on the rocks near San Francisco, and many are seen 
in public parks. 

They are driven inland the same as seals, but there 
is much more excitement in driving a herd of the lions. 
The men have to make a noise and yell and wave flags 
and fire off guns and pistols to keep the herd moving. 
The opening and shutting of umbrellas in their faces, 
has been an effective help. They drive them the entire 
length of the island before they are killed. This takes 
many days, as the old, fat ones get out of breath, and 
the hunters have to wait for them. 

When they are collected in an enclosure and realize 
that they are captives, their roar is terrific. The males 
are shot, as it is too dangerous to approach them, but 
the females are lanced. 

The natives hunt them for their own use. They eat 
the flesh and use some of the skin for boots. They 
also make skin boats of the hides. The intestines are 
dried and used for water proof clothing. 

Sea lions are covered with hair, not fur. It is of a 
reddish brown, about one and one half inches long. 

We have not yet seen the Aleut in his most daring 
undertaking. If we want to test his endurance, his 
skill, and his bravery, we must see him hunt the sea- 
otter. Let us not miss this wonderful opportunity. 

HUNTING THE SEA OTTER. 

Again we take our maps to find Satmak Island. 


A LITTLE JOURNEY TO ALASKA. 67 

This is a favorite resort of the sea-otter. There is a 
great difference between the common otter and the sea- 
otter. The fur of the latter is as valuable as that of 
the seal. Its growing scarcity tends to make the pelts 
very expensive. Exceptionally fine skins have been 
known to bring small fortunes in the fur markets of 
Europe and America. In China, mandarins of high 
rank wear sea-otter fur as a mark of their office. 

The sea-otter is much like a seal in appearance, ex¬ 
cept that the head is shaped somewhat like that of a 
cat. . Its fur is short, thick, and of a rich ebony color. 
It is very beautiful. 

The father and mother sea-otter always stay near 
each other, and the mother gives her baby otter the 
tenderest care. If she sleeps, she does so with the 
baby clasped in her forearms. She often does this, 



HUNTING SEA-OTTERS. 






68 A LITTLE JOURNEY TO ALASKA. 

lying on her back in the water. She is frequently seen 
playing with her baby on the ice and in the water. 

Sea-otters are very watchful and difficult to capture. 
No people live on the island to which they come. 
That would drive them away. When the Aleuts go to' 
hunt them, they simply camp on the island. They 
sleep under their boats, and, you remember, live on 
cold, uncooked food. 

Sannak Island in some places has a sandy beach, 
but in others is bordered by slippery boulders or 
big rocks. These are the play-grounds of the otters. 
The hunters do not find them here. They find them 
way out in the ocean, sometimes fifty miles from the 
shore. 

About ten to fifty of the natives form one hunting 
party. They go in their skin boats. There are always 
two in one boat. They have one man selected as their 
leader. They arrange their boats in a long line or pro¬ 
fession, and then separate. They keep in line, but 
are just as far apart as they can be to hear each other 
and see the signals. 

When one of them sees the head of an otter, he gives 
the signal, and then rows to the spot where he saw the 
head disappear. He holds his oars high in the air. 
This is a signal for the other hunters to surround him. 
They do this, forming a circle. In fifteen minutes the 
otter must come up for breath. The very minute he 
appears, a spear is thrown at him. If he is not struck, 
he dives again. He must soon come up to get air. By 
keeping this up he becomes tired and some one will be 
successful in spearing him. 

The spear is attached to a line. The hunter draws 


A LITTLE JOURNEY TO ALASKA. 69 

his prize to the boat, and strikes him a death blow 
with a small, but very heavy wooden club. 

Surely you wouldn’t like to be a sea-otter hunter, 
when you know what he does next. Lifting the ani¬ 
mal out of the water, he bites off the end of his black 
nose, and then stows him away in his canoe. This 
ceremony is repeated each time. There is some super 
stitious idea connected with it. The hunters form in 
line again and go through the same process as in catch¬ 
ing their previous victim. 

When there is much seaweed floating about, the' 
hunters spread nets upon the mass, and when the 
otters get on them for a frolic, they are captured. 

The life of the native hunter is full of danger during 
the entire season. But he is trained to it, and enjoys 
the life. 

The pelts of the sea-otter, like those of the seal, are 
shipped to London for curing and dyeing. The sea- 
otter is now almost extinct because it has been hunted 
so ruthlessly; and the United States government has 
been obliged to provide special protection for the seals. 

THE ESKIMO. 

Many hundred miles north of the rocky Aleutian 
Islands, lives another interesting race of natives who 
call themselves Innuits. We call them Eskimos. 

As a race they are strong, but not tall. Their faces 
are broad, and they always have a good natured look. 
In fact, they are a happy, contented people, and their 
appearance shows it. 

Their complexions border on the olive, probably on 
account of the continual use of oil, but their skins are 


70 


A LITTLE JOURNEY TO ALASKA. 






































A LITTLE JOURNEY TO ALASKA. 


71 


very clear and soft. Doesn’t this rather surprise you, 
when you think of the severe weather to which they 
are exposed? 

One very noticeable thing is the size of their hands 
and feet. They are small and very shapely. This is 
true, not only among the women, but also among the 
men. Their delicately formed hands do not seem 
strong enough for their rude labors. Yet we know that 
they are, for the Eskimos accomplish a great deal of 
hard work. 

We might almost envy these simple natives their 
wealth of furs. But should we? What would they do 
for clothing in this cold, far-away country, if they 
could not make it from the skins of the wild animals? 
They think no more of their valuable furs than we do 
of our most common clothes. But it takes the greatest 
patience to make their clothing. 

After the animal is killed and skinned, the pelt is 
spread on the snow to dry. Then they scrape and 
scrape on the inside with a bone until they get every 
particle of flesh off. Then the stiff hide must be pulled 
and rubbed until it is pliable or soft, and feels like 
velvet. In the end the skins are in as good a condition 
as though they had been through a modern tannery. 

Now the hide is ready for the garment, and the 
women will sew them into comfortable suits. Where 
will they get the needles and thread? There are no 
stores where they can buy them, no factories where 
they are made. But they are self reliant. Do you 
know what that means? The next time the girls want 
a needle and some thread, let them try what it means. 

As they have no place to buy them, they must make 


72 


A LITTLE JOURNEY TO ALASKA. 


both. Make needles? Yes, by scraping a bone until 
it is smooth and thin. One of the first things a little 
girl is taught is to make thread, for it takes a great 
deal for the mother to use in making the suits. They 
make the thread by twisting and braiding the sinews 
of the reindeer and the whale. We shall soon see how 
they get these animals. 

When skin, thread and needles are ready, the mother 
cuts the suit out with a big knife and sews the parts 
securely together. Her stitches are often so neat and 
regular that they seem made by machine. 

The boys’ and girls’ suits are much alike, except that 
the girls have scant little skirts to their dresses. Both 
have fur hoods. Their underclothing is a rather close 
fitting suit of skins made with the fur next to the body. 
The suit with the fur outside is made to wear as we 
wear our winter cloaks and coats. 






The Eskimo 
houses of Alaska 
are not made the 
same as those of 
his cousins, the 
Gre enlanders. 
They have to de¬ 
pend mostly upon 
snow and ice. Our 
Eskimos, living 
near a coast that 
is often touched 
by ships, are more 
fortunate than 
their cousins. 















A LITTLE JOURNEY TO ALASKA. 


73 


From deserted camps, sometimes from wrecks, much 
driftwood comes to the Alaskan shores. The Eskimos 
very industriously gather this for their houses. These 
are made underground and are called huts. The men 
dig a hole in the ground about six feet deep. They 
stand the logs up around the sides to make the walls.' 
Then they lay logs across the top even with the ground. 
Then they put stringers across and lay more logs on 
top, and cover it all with dirt and moss. They leave 
an opening about two feet square which they cover 
with the entrail of a walrus, which is caught in the sea. 
This lets in the light, and is the only window they 
have. It is always put in facing the south to get as 
much light as possible. Missionaries have taught 
them to put a little wooden spout in the roof to let 
the impure air escape. 

Can you guess where the door is? Look about fif¬ 
teen or twenty feet away. There seems to be a small 
square opening in the ground. And there is an Eskimo 
peeping out. Let us hurry to the spot and we may 
learn something interesting. He is standing on a short 
step ladder. He bids us come in, and we follow him 
through the trap door-way, down to a passage way, 
where we crawl on our hands and knees underground 
for about fifteen feet. This hallway is braced with 
quantities of whale ribs. 

When we get to the end of the passage way, through 
a small trap door we scramble into a room, which is 
their house. It is a space from ten to twelve feet 
square. 

At the farther end of the room is the bed, one for 
all of the family. It is a bench the whole length of 


74 


A LITTLE JOURNEY TO ALASKA. 


the room. They sleep on deer skins, and have deer 
skins for their covering. The front of the bench* is 
about two feet high and slopes to the wall. They 
sleep with their heads to the front and their feet 
against the wall. In the day time they use the bench 
as a place to sit. 

But the most curious things which we see are their 
stoves or lamps. They are usually of stone, slightly 
hollowed out to make a ridge. Around this ridge is 
placed a moss which they gather in the summer from 
a wild shrub. This is the wick. Then they hang a 
good sized piece of blubber above it, just far enough 
to melt slowly and keep the hollow stone supplied with 
oil. The moss which has been saturated with oil is 
lighted and they have a fine lamp and stove combined. 
Often they have two in a hut. They never allow them 
to go out, night or day. 

Above the stoves is stretched a line. Upon this, 
boots, mittens and wet garments are hung to dry. 

Near the lamp is a wooden tub, above which on a 
rack is kept a cake of clean snow. This, slowly melt¬ 
ing and dripping into the tub, supplies them with 
fresh drinking water. 

The floors made of driftwood are kept well rubbed 
with dry skins. The Eskimos are very careful about 
wiping all of the snow from their shoes before entering 
the house. 

A visit to the Eskimo home would hardly be com¬ 
plete without accepting of their hospitality and par¬ 
taking of a meal with them. Suppose we do have to 
sit on the floor and eat with our fingers. Haven't we 
done that in the woods at home and called it jolly? 


A LITTLE JOURNEY TO ALASKA. 


75 


We join the circle and the food is placed in.the cen¬ 
tre. We have some fresh seal and whale meat. Close 
by stands a vessel of oil. Each takes a chunk of meat, 
dips it into the oil and sucks it. Many, instead of dip¬ 
ping in the meat, use their fingers. Someway our 
appetites do not seem very good. Well, never mind. 
Let us observe this jolly family at dinner. Such laugh¬ 
ing and chattering! It seems more like a party than 
a family meal. They joke each other, and keep up a 
perfect hubbub of talking and laughing until every 
morsel is eaten. 

We have found the home life of the Eskimo very 
interesting. Let us crawl and scramble out of his 
happy home and observe his out-of-door life. 

We find our Eskimo brothers with very industrious 


habits. 

Boat building probably 

il 



E>Kl/AO ;Do£. 


keeps them the busiest of 
any of their duties, aside 
from hunting. The Esk¬ 
imo paddles about in a 
most curious boat. It is 
called an ooviiak. It is 
usually about thirty-five 
feet long, six feet wide 
in the middle and four 
feet deep, coming to a 
point at both ends. 


When the frame is made by lashing heavy timbers 
together, walrus or seal skins are stretched over it, 
pulled perfectly tight and sewed together. Scarcely a 
drop of water can get through the skins. 

Thirty or forty persons can ride in one of these, and 


76 


A LITTLE JOURNEY TO ALASKA. 


walk about in them without any danger of their giving 
way. # The skins give, when stepped upon, but rebound 
at once when the foot is lifted. 

The oomiak is used by the natives coasting about in 
the sea. 

For river travel they make a different boat called a 
kyak. This is much like the oomiak, except in the 
construction of the top. Instead of being open all over 
the top, it has only one or two openings called 
hatchways, just large enough for the body to slip 
through. An Eskimo can stow away a surprising 
amount in one. Sometimes a lonely Eskimo will pad¬ 
dle toward you and haul his boat upon the beach. 
Suddenly out from his covered boat will scramble a 
whole family, including the dog. 

THE ESKIMO DOGS. 

Dogs are of great service to the Eskimos in travel¬ 
ing over the snow and ice. They look upon their dogs 
as friends, and they are their companions. They are 
big, shaggy, black and white creatures, and can endure 
a great deal of cold, and go for a long time without 
food. The Eskimos sometimes do not feed them for 
three days. They do this to harden them, so they can 
make long trips without food. On their return from 
a drive, the dogs are always well fed, generally with a 
fresh piece of walrus meat. When starting on a long 
journey their owner generally gives them a strip of 
walrus hide about a foot and a half long and an inch 
wide. This seems to give them enough strength to 
last for days. They are very strong and easily carry 
their burdens on the icy fields. From six to twenty 
dogs are harnessed to one sled. Sometimes they travel 


A LITTLE JOURNEY TO ALASKA. 


77 


abreast, and sometimes in tandem fashion. Their har¬ 
ness is very simple and is made of straps of deer hide. 
They are driven without reins. The master carries a 
long whip, but he guides them mostly with his voice. 
They understand at once, and as they are trained from 
puppies, they are very obedient. 

The Eskimo boys are as skillful drivers as their 
fathers. When they are very young they are taught 
to harness the puppies to tiny sleds and drive them 
about near the house. When they are only boys their 
fathers allow them to harness up a whole team and 
drive alone to a neighboring Eskimo village. Their 
sleds are made of bone, and of driftwood when they 
can find it. When neither is at hand they make them 
out of blocks of ice. It must be great fun to ride on 
one of their ice sleds. 

THE REINDEER. 

A few years ago a ship in the north of Behring Sea, 
landed at an island which was inhabited by Eskimos. 
They were in a starving condition. They had been 
unfortunate in catching seal, walrus, whale or deer. 

On board of the ship was that kind, white man, Dr. 
Sheldon Jackson, of whom we heard among the mis¬ 
sionaries. He thought it was terrible for the Eskimos 
to starve, and all because the white men had been to 
the far north and hunted the animals until not enough 
were left for food for the natives. 

When he came back to the United States he induced 
our government to send herds of reindeer to that part 
of Alaska near the island, and teach the Eskimos to raise 
them, and so provide themselves with an animal which 
would at any time furnish them with food and clothing. 


78 


A LITTLE JOURNEY TO ALASKA. 


If we examine our maps, on the west coast of Alaska, 
a litttle south of Behring Strait, we will find the name 
of the first place to which the reindeer were brought. 
It is called Port Clarence. Now there are several 
large herds in various places, called “reindeer.stations.” 

The first reindeer for these stations were brought 
from Siberia, and the government hired men to come 
with them to teach the Eskimos how to train and care 
for them. 

Later, the herds have been brought from Lapland, 
as that country has the best trained reindeer. 

The reindeer get their own food in quite a strange 
manner. They are turned out to graze on the snow 
fields, the same as in our country cattle are turned 
out to pasture. Does that seem strange to you 
and do you wonder what they find to eat? The 
ground is all covered with snow, but the reindeer 
know that underneath is delicious moss. They 
dig the snow up with their sharp hoofs, and find 
there the very food which they like best. There are 
acres and acres of this moss, or tundra as it is some¬ 
times called, growing in Alaska, and there is enough 
to feed many large herds without food becoming 
scarce. They graze in the daytime and at night are 
driven into a place surrounded by a high board fence, 
to protect them from wild animals. Each animal is 
branded, so if it strays, the owner may reclaim it. 
They have been called the horses, cows, and sheep of 
the Eskimo, and that is true, for he drives them in 
harness, milks them, and makes cloth of their hair. 

The deer is not burdened with a heavy harness. He 
has a skin collar around his neck. A single trace 


A LITTLE JOURNEY TO ALASKA. 79 

passes from this down between the legs to a hole in 
front of the sled. The driver uses but one rein, which 
is fastened to the horns. The rein is dropped either 
on one side of the back or the other to guide him right 
or left. Being harnessed in this way, a reindeer can 
far out-travel a horse. On level ground, twenty miles 
an hour is often traveled, and twelve or fifteen miles 
is a very easy distance to cover. In the most severe 
winter weather they can travel all day without show¬ 
ing fatigue, and then find their own food under the 
snow. A story is told of a reindeer who once traveled 
eight hundred miles in forty-eight hours, to carry an 
officer with an important message. The poor deer 
dropped dead at the end of the journey, but the nec¬ 
essary mission was accomplished. 

The milk is rich and the little Eskimos are fond of it. 
The flesh is much prized, as it is tender and very 
juicy. Many white people who have eaten it think it 
delicious. The natives consider the marrow a great 
delicacy. The tongue and hams are dried and stored 
for winter, and sausage meat is preserved in the intes¬ 
tines. The fat is made into oil, with which the dried 
and frozen meats are eaten. The bones furnish them 
handles for tools, spoons, needles, and many other use¬ 
ful household articles, besides their simple weapons. 
What cannot be used in this way is burned as fuel. 
Cord and thread are made from the sinews. 

Both the males and females have branching horns, 
which they shed every year. These furnish the Es¬ 
kimo boys with great sport in playing the game “rein¬ 
deer hunting.” On the slope of a small hill they stick 
some antlers into the snow. Then they go to the top 


80 


A LITTLE JOURNEY TO ALASKA. 


of the hill and coast down, carrying with them their 
bows and arrows or their spears. As they approach 
the antlers they make believe they see a real deer, and 
shoot or hurl their spears at them. As they go flying 
down the hill, the boys often turn around to shoot 
after they have passed by, for the boy who knocks 
over the most antlers wins the game. As the game 
nears the end the boys get very excited and often fall 
off their sleds and roll over and over in their rush to 
beat the others. It is considered a great honor to 
knock over the last antler. They have a merry time 
in many ways, and now that the reindeer stations are 
established they will never again suffer from hunger. 
our journey’s end. 

We have now finished the trip to our great and 
rich possession of the north. We have seen that it is 
a country abounding in mineral and animal products, 
and feel sure that our country did a wise thing to buy it. 

We have enjoyed the beautiful scenery. The varied 
plant and animal life have been attractive. The min¬ 
eral wealth has astonished us. The people have in¬ 
terested us. 

The country will probably make rapid advances in ' 
the next few years. When we visit Alaska again we 
may be enabled to travel extensively by rail through 
many of the parts we could not visit. There will be 
more schools and churches, and we shall find the na¬ 
tives engaged in all of the industries of our thriving 
country. 

We have been thinking so much of our own posses¬ 
sions for the past month, that we would better return 
and be a little more neighborly. We had a delightful 
visit to our southern neighbor, Mexico, and we will 
, doubtless receive as cordial a welcome to our northern 
neighbor, Canada. As they are expecting us soon, let 
us return to Seattle and be ready for the promised visit. 


A Little Journey to 
Canada 


How many of us have read Longfellow’s beautiful 
poem “Evangeline?” To what country did he refer 
when he wrote “This is the forest primeval, the mur¬ 
muring pines and the hemlocks bearded with moss 
and in garments green indistinct in the twilight, 
stand like Druids of old”—? 

Many of us know something of the romantic history 
of Canada because we have read this beautiful poem, 
but we know little of its real history and have never 
visited it even in imagination. We are apt to think 
of Canada as a cold, unattractive region, of interest 
only to hunters and trappers and lumbermen. This 
is a mistake, as we shall shortly see. For we are now 
to take a little journey to our northern neighbors, 
and the former home of Evangeline. 

What route shall we take to reach there? We have 
already taken a journey to the Pacific Coast by the 
Great Northern Railway; suppose we take the Canadian 
Pacific this time. It will give us many glimses of the 



8 


A LITTLE JOURNEY TO CANADA. 


beauty spots of the United States. We can go by way 
of the boat from Seattle to Vancouver’s Island, which 
is a part of the Dominion of Canada. 

Now turn to the map of Canada. At Vancouver 
City we take the Canadian Pacific Railway which has 
done so much to make Canada what it is today. This 
road will take us across the continent. 

No trip to Canada would be complete without a trip 
down the St. Lawrence and a visit to Niagara Falls. 
At Toronto we can embark on one of the steamers of 
the Richelieu & Ontario Navigation Company, follow¬ 
ing the course of the lake and down the St. Lawrence, 
past the Thousand Islands, shooting the Rapids, stop¬ 
ping at Montreal and Quebec and finally reaching the 
most attractive part of the whole trip—the Saguenay 
River. 

We may then return to Buffalo and after our visit 
there go home by way of the Great Lakes. We can 
take passage at Buffalo on a steamer that will con¬ 
nect with the Manitou Steamship Line. “The Mani- 
tou” has taken us on many a pleasure trip, and will 
carry us safely home to Chicago. 

SEATTLE. 

Here we are at Seattle again and the other members 
of our party ready to join us. Very close to us lies 
the Dominion of Canada. How shall we reach it? 
What places in Canada can we visit in a month’s 
time? That depends upon what the majority of the 
Travel Club wish to see. Some care most for its 
beautiful scenery, others are interested in the people 
and industries. 


A LITTLE JOURNEY TO CANADA. 


9 


Let us take a look at the land then before we go any 
farther. 


CANADA. 

All the country north of the United States, except 
Alaska, Greenland and Iceland, is included in that 
part of the British Empire known as the Dominion of 
Canada and Newfoundland. 

Canada is about the size of the United States with¬ 
out Alaska. It stretches from the Pacific to the Atlan¬ 
tic, a breadth of nearly four thousand miles. Its 
southern boundary is the United States; its northern, 
the Arctic Ocean. There are seven provinces and 
nine districts in the Dominion. Each province has 
a government of its own, as have our states. But they 
have a central government also, with a capital at 
Ottawa, which corresponds to our capital at Washing¬ 
ton. The territories are covered with vast forests and 
are of but little importance at present. Newfound¬ 
land has no connection with Canada. It has an in¬ 
dependent government. 

Canada has a population of almost 9,000,000. One 
third of these are French or of French descent, but the 
majority are of English or Scotch descent. About one 
hundred and twenty-five thousand are Indians and a 
small number of Eskimo. The majority of the Cana¬ 
dians have their homes in the southern part of Canada. 
Then comes a region farther north covered with vast 
forests. It is here that many of the Indians, the fur 
traders and trappers live. The Eskimo live in the 
extreme north, along the coast. 

But we shall meet with but little difficulty about 


11 A LITTLE JOURNEY TO CANADA. 

language. With the Indians on the Pacific coast, a 
few phrases of Chinook will carry us through. In other 
parts of the country we can easily find an interpreter 
for the other tribes. In Quebec, where French is the 
language employed, the hotel men, cab men and busi¬ 
ness-men also speak English, and as for the Eskimo, 
well I think we will have to visit them in imagination 
only. 

The chief industries of the people are agriculture, 
lumbering, fur trading, fishing and mining. The farm¬ 
ing districts lie through the Central and Atlantic 
divisions of Canada. Here we find the most of the in¬ 
habitants and the great cities. We shall not linger in 
the cities that resemble the cities of the United States, 
nor shall we visit the farms and factories similar to 
those seen at home. We decide to devote most of our 

time to those industries 
and modes of life un¬ 
like our own. 

If we set out now for 
the Land of Evange¬ 
line and go north and 
east through Canada, 
we shall find spring 
and lose it over and 
over again before we 
reach our journey’s 
end. When nature is 
reviving beneath the 
mild south winds that 
blow on the lowlands 



THE LAND OF EVANGELINE. 







A LITTLE JOURNEY TO CANADA. 11 

by the coast, the snow still lingers in the canyons of the 
Cascades, and the Selkirks, and the Rockies. Out in the 
Prairie Land we shall find vegetation far advanced; the 
spring plowing over, warm weather and sunny skies. 
But, as we travel through the region north of Lake 
Superior, and again when we reach Quebec, we shall 
find nature just waking from her long winter sleep. 

All along our way, however hot it may be in the 
daytime, it will be cool enough at night. Pack up 
your warm clothes, then, and take them with you. 
Rain coats and umbrellas of course must not be for¬ 
gotten. We shall have no difficulty about money. 
American bills and silver are good anywhere in Canada. 

OFF FOR VICTORIA. 

From Seattle we can reach the Dominion by land 
or water. As we have had so much railway traveling 
let us go by sea. The part of Canada we shall first 
see will be what is known as the Pacific division or 
British Columbia. 

We are steaming into the beautiful harbor of Vic¬ 
toria almost before we know it. It is from this we are 
to have our first glimpses of Canadian life. Victoria 
is the capital of British Columbia and is situated on 
the southern end of Vancouver Island. It has a small 
harbor with a narrow entrance, but all except the 
largest ocean steamers can anchor here. Above us on 
the hills lies the city, the square wooden tower of a 
Cathedral rising above everything. 

Early May in Victoria is certainly delightful. We 
fully expected to find a cold disagreeable climate and 
perhaps fogs in a country so far north, but the sky is 


12 


A LITTLE JOURNEY TO CANADA. 


clear and blue, and the sun shining bright and warm. 
The lawns about the houses are green, and in the fields 
buttercups and daisies are blooming. The people who 
live here tell us that the climate of Victoria is perfect. 
Moist winds' blow from the warm south for eight 
months out of the twelve. The thermometer rarely 
falls below 23° in winter, or rises above 72° in summer. 



PARLIAMENT BUILDINGS, VICTORIA, B. C. 


Victoria seems like an English town. At every turn 
you meet Jack Tars and red-coated marines away from 
their -ships for the afternoon. Victoria is a city of 
homes. The people on the main land call it the home 
of the moss-backs. The Victorian is so quiet, so easy 
going, they say that moss grows on his back. 

Let us take a walk through the quiet city. It will 
not take long, as it has a population of but thirty-two 
thousand people. 




A LITTLE JOURNEY TO CANADA. 


13 


Notice the houses. They are not built up in rows 
close together. Each house stands apart, surrounded 
by its own little garden. Those creepers you see 
trained over the porches, are honeysuckles. Ferns 
here reach the height of ten or twelve feet. Even cur¬ 
rant bushes grow to a wonderful size; in many gardens 
they are trained on arbors and hang their berries high 
overhead. In the clearings about the town, wild rose 
bushes are matted together by the acre. 

The Indians are the laborers here. They take the 
place of the negroes of the South. They are the 
“hands”of the sawmills, the“roustabouts”of the steam¬ 
boats and the wharves; they are the teamsters and 
the coachmen. Their women often find work as do¬ 
mestic servants. 

The houses in the Indian village opposite the city 
are square or oblong huts with flat roofs and with 
walls and ceilings of cedar. The floors are of earth. 
Several families often live together in one house. Then 
the hut is made three or four times larger. Inside 
there are no partitions; nevertheless, each family has 
its own fireside, round which it draws its belongings, 
and makes its home. 

Throughout the province the Chinese are relied upon 
for the work of the garden, the kitchen, the laundry. 
The people grumble at them, and write to the news¬ 
papers about them. The Labor Unions denounce them. 
But each grumbler would be at his wits’ end if Chinese 
immigration were stopped. As it is, each Chinaman 
who enters the Dominion has to pay a tax of fifty dol¬ 
lars. The Japanese, however, are allowed to enter 
free. 


14 


A LITTLE JOURNEY TO CANADA. 


ESQUIMAULT. 

Within two miles of the city lies Esquimault, the 
chief naval base of Great Britain on the Pacific. Let 
us take the electric cars and look at the men-of-war 
lying in the harbor; and the big dry-dock in which 
ships are cleaned and repaired. There is one there 
now. Look at the men away down thirty-five feet 
below us. What are they doing? They are scouring 
and scraping at the sheathing of the ship’s hull to get 
off the barnacles. What are barnacles? A tiny 
species of shellfish that fastens on a vessel’s hull, and 
lessens its speed. 

NANAIMO. 

Seventy miles north of Victoria is the town of Na¬ 
naimo. There are coal mines there that yield more 
than a million tons a year. For steam raising purposes 
the War Department of the United States rates Na¬ 
naimo coal above any found in Washington, Oregon, 
or California. The American steamship lines of China 
and Australia use it almost exclusively. The Canadian 
Pacifiic Railway Company depends upon it for its 
steamship service to China, and for its railway service 
to the summit of the Rockies. 

VANCOUVER. 

Now let us take steamer for the city of Vancouver. 
It is a six hours’ trip. We cross the Gulf of Georgia,' 
and come to anchor in the harbor of the chief com¬ 
mercial city of the Dominion on the Pacific. Beside 
us lies the Empress of Japan” discharging her cargo 
of tea and general merchandise brought from Hong¬ 
kong and Yokohama. Within a week the cars of the 


A LITTLE JOURNEY TO CANADA. 15 

Canadian Pacific Railway will have delivered the ves¬ 
sel's lading at Montreal and New York. 

In 1885 the site of Vancouver was a wilderness of 
tall pines and branching cedars. Now it has more 
than 100,000 inhabitants enjoying all the comforts 



VANCOUVER, BRITISH COLUMBIA 


and most of the luxuries of civilization. Churches, 
schools, stately public buildings adorn the streets. 
The telephone is everywhere. Electricity lights the 
miles of asphalt streets, the hotels, and the private 
residences, and runs a line to New Westminster, the 
former capital of British Columbia, famous for its can¬ 
neries and its sawmills. 

The water supply is drawn from a mountain stream, 
and piped to the city by gravitation. Sanitation and 









16 


A LITTLE JOURNEY TO CANADA. 


drainage receive careful attention. Stanley Park, with 
a drive-way ten miles long encircling it, has been pre¬ 
sented to the city by the Provincial Government. 
Here, overlooking the Bay and the Narrows, are for¬ 
ests with stately trees, hanging mosses and mighty 
ferns. 



STREET IN VANCOUVER. 


Siwashes, the Indians of the coast, camp on the 
fringes of the Park. In the little coves at the foot of 
the precipices float flocks of duck, teal, diver and auk. 
Look down over the bay. See the flotillas of quaint 
canoes. The Indians in them are trolling for salmon, 
or deep-fishing for the black cod or skill. Many of the 
Indians of Vancouver Island are engaged in seal fishing. 













A LITTLE JOURNEY TO CANADA. 


17 


All around are mountains. Far away south is the 
white volcanic mass of Mt. Baker, arising from Ameri¬ 
can territory. Across the English Bay are mountains. 
Right ahead are mountains. On the farther side of 
Burrard Inlet range beyond range of mountains rise, 
covered with forests to their peaks, the home of bear, 
goat, deer, panther and wild fowl. 

British Columbia is a land for fishermen, the lum¬ 
berman, the hunter and miner. 

NORTHERN CANADA. 

If we go farther up north through British Columbia 
and into Yukon we must walk or use sledges and dogs. 
This is what the miners are obliged to do who carry 
on mining in the Klondike region. Hundreds of them 
are making their way northward now, and others who 
have wintered there are now working every hour in 
the day. For the summers are short and the ground 
is frozen two-thirds of the year. Fires must be built 
on the ground to thaw the earth before it can be dug 
up. 

When the spring comes and the ice melts in the 
streams the miners take advantage of the running 
water to wash out the gold from the earth they have 
carried and piled up along the banks. The summer 
is their harvest time, as well as that of the farmer. 
These miners suffer great hardships in order to wring 
their Jiving from the jioil, and many of them die of 
hunger and cold. 

In the far north one sees no trees except willows and 
birches and a few hardy plants that hug the ground 
very closely to escape the biting winds. In the short 


IS 


A LITTLE JOURNEY TO CANADA. 



GOOD MORNING! 

summers a little grass and a few flowering plants 
spring up. Some of these plants produce berries which 
the Eskimo and birds hunt with pleasure. 

If we wished to visit one of the famous whaling 
grounds in the world we might push our way still 
farther north up to the mouth of the Mackenzie river. 
Steamers reach this spot from points on the Pacific by 
way of the Behring Sea and the Arctic Ocean. A few 
Eskimo villages are scattered along the coast, but the 
cold is too intense for any other human beings to exist 
in this place. 

ANiriAL LIFE. 

One wonders that animals can live in such a cold 
place, but one of the sailors tells us that many of the 
animals of the north live in the sea. There, except- 




A LITTLE JOURNEY TO CANADA. 


19 


ing at the surface, the temperature does not go below 
the freezing point. When the water freezes over 
many of them migrate southward. 

One curious thing he tells us is that the polar bear, 
the fox, hare and baby seal change their coats to one 



CARIBOU. 

more nearly resembling snow in the winter time. 
That's for protection, you see. It helps to hide them 
from their enemies and enables them to steal upon 
their prey unobserved. Their food? Most of the 
animals in the Polar regions live on animal food, but 
the reindeer, the caribou, musk ox and Arctic hare Jive 
on the scanty grass, moss, and berries . 










20 A LITTLE JOURNEY TO CANADA. 

The caribou is the wild reindeer. It has never been 
tamed, but is hunted for its venison. 

What other animals? Well, there are some land 
birds, the most common being the tough little sparrow 
and the saucy crow, and the plarmigan, which also 
changes its plumage to white in winter. Then there 
are thousands upon thousands of sea birds, that build 
their nests upon the rocky cliffs. 

And insects too. You would not expect to find 
them here. But when the snow melts and the ground 
thaws they come out by the millions, especially the 
mosquitoes. 

Farther south are the otter, the ermine, the beaver, 
the mink, the lynx, deer, moose, the hedge hog, the 
mountain sheep and goat, grizzly bear, and other 
animals that are found in the northern part of the 
United States. 

Now let us leave this cheerless region and return to 
Vancouver. We find the country through which we 
travel almost destitute of human beings. A solitary 
Indian, or a hunter or trapper sometimes crosses our 
path. It is not a pleasant or safe journey, for in the 
woods are panthers and huge fierce grizzly bears, 
ready and anxious for a fight. 

THE MOOSE. 

What a frightful noise! It sounds like the roar of 
a lion, yet that cannot be. There are no lions here. 
Ah! There comes an old hunter. Let us ask him. 
He tells us that it is the moose, that it is sometimes 
tamed by the Hudson Bay men of the northwest. 
They use it as the reindeer, as it is fleeter and more 


A LITTLE JOURNEY TO CANADA. 


2i 


crafty. The full grown moose is the size of a large 
horse. It is five feet high and weighs from 1,000 to 
1,200 pounds. 

His antlers are a sight to see, measuring five feet 
from root to tip. These are cast each year and a new 
set formed. The head and antlers sell for quite a 
sum. The skin is used in making moccasins. 

The bellow of the moose can be heard for two or 
three miles. He browses on leaves and twigs and 
likes the lily roots growing at the bottom of the 
ponds. 

During the heat of summer he stands at mid-day 
in water in some quiet cove or inland lake, cooling his 
feet, and safe from flies. Seen thus, he appears 
motionless; but his eye is intenjt on every intruder. In 
October he is dangerous to approach. Later in the 
autumn, he herds with his fellows. A “moose-yard” 
is then a bonanza for the hunter, generally an Indian 
or a half-breed, who may lay in his winter supply of 
meat, to be used fresh as long as the frost lasts, or 
smoked for later use. 

We will soon be able to see one of these big animals 
if we will go with this hunter to the trading post. 
It is the only building one can find in this country. 

FUR TRADING POST. 

Do you know what such a post means? It is a sta¬ 
tion for the purchase of skins from the Indians and 
other hunters. All through this cold country from the 
Rocky Mountains to the coast of Labrador, these posts 
are scattered, for Canada is one of the greatest fur pro¬ 
ducing countries in the world. 


22 


A LITTLE JOURNEY TO CANADA. 



Let us enter this building. It seems to be a . store. 
The agent in charge is buying some skins which an 
Indian has just brought in to sell. He pays for the 
skins with rifles, powder and shot, knives, blankets 
and other articles they value. 

The hunter’s life is a hard one. He must tramp 
through the snow perhaps a hundred or two hundred 




A LITTLE JOURNEY TO CANADA. 


23 


miles from his hunting ground to the post. He must 
carry upon his back a supply of food and a blanket 
in which to wrap himself at night, and draw on 
a sled his furs and camping outfit. 

When an Indian selects a hunting ground he pitches 
his wigwam and then sets his traps. He visits these 
traps every few days, collects the bodies of the animais 
caught and re-sets the traps. 

If the hunting ground does not prove to be a good 
one he must break camp and tramp another hundred 
miles in hope of better luck. 

Now the Indians depart and we will ask the agent 
to tell us something about his work. Does he ever get 
lonely out there? Yes, very lonely. Sometimes he 
does not see a white man for six months, or even a 
year. The work is not pleasant, but then it pays well 
and he hopes to be a rich man some day and leave 
this lonesome place. How does he dispose of his furs? 
During the summer when the ice is partly melted in 
the Hudson Bay, ships from England bring supplies to 
the trading posts on the bay and take away the skins 
that have been bought. The company that employs 
him, employs hundreds of other agents and Indians. 
This company controls the trade of the country and 
ships millions of furs to London every year. It has 
done a great deal for Canada, in giving employment 
to so many people. 

We shall find that we are able to buy fine fur 
garments much cheaper in Canada than at home, 
and so we decide to supply ourselves with coats, 
hats and collars before returning to the United 
States. 



24 A LITTI.E JOURNEY TO CANADA. 

OVER THE ROCKIES. 

The Canadian Pacific Railway will take us from Van¬ 
couver on the Pacific Coast entirely across the continent 
to St. John, New Brunswick. As we leave Vancouver 
and lookout of the car window to the right, we see far 
below us the deep set inlet. Here and there are vil¬ 
lages with mills, and wharves where ocean steamships 
and sailing craft are loading with sawn timber for all 


SALMON FLEET—FRASER RIVER. 

parts of the world. On the left are gigantic trees; 
twenty, thirty, and even forty feet round. 

At Port Moody the line swerves to the left through 
a mighty forest . Now we are out of it. Look! There 
lies the mighty Fraser River; and, far beyond, the 
white crest of Mt. Baker. 

Gradually the canyons and cliffs approach. Here 
and there are rude Indian farms. Across the broad 












A LITTLE JOURNEY TO CANADA. 


25 


river, as we draw near Yale, is an Indian village. 
What are those men doing down by the river side? 
They are washing the gravel for gold. Are they In¬ 
dians? No, they are Chinamen. Indians would starve 
at the business. 

At Yale we have reached the head of navigation on 
the lower Fraser. Now we are at the entrance to the 
Fraser canyon. The railway passes from tunnel to 
bridge, and from bridge to tunnel. Looking down we 
catch sight of ponderous masses of rock, polished like 
black glass, obstructing the foaming current of the 
river. 

At North Bend we leave the cars to lunch at the 
Fraser Canyon House. Gathered round the pretty 
little hotel are many Siwashes. They are undersized 
specimens of Indians with heads, mouths and nostrils 
broad almost to deformity. Many bear the marks of 
smallpox. They live by fishing and doing chores for 
white men. They are industrious, good natured and 
law-abiding. 

The wooden cottages of these Indians differ from 
those of white men chiefly in odor. There is generally 
a sort of verandah, ! which is used as a safe for valuables 
and as a pantry for fish, ancient and modern. Just 
look at that Kloochman, or squaw. What is that on 
her back? It is a “moss-bag.” What has she got in 
it? A papoose. The baby is bound in bands of bark. 
It moves only its eyes. It never cries, at least it 
doesn’t while we are here. 

The dusk is gathering as we resume our journey. 
We can just make out that the canyon alternately 
widens and narrows as we hasten upwards. We rush 


26 


A LITTLE JOURNEY TO CANADA. 


into a tunnel and, after emerging in safety, cross the 
Fraser river. 

Let us find out something about this man Fraser, 
after whom is named the mighty river we have seen 
all day. 

In his journal he relates how, while in the employ 
of the North Western Fur Company, he crossed from 
the headwaters of the Peace River, and found and fol¬ 
lowed what he believed to be the upper part of the 
Columbia River. With great difficulty he descended in 
canoes its unknown canyons, constantly resisted by 
hostile Indians, and exposed to starvation as well as 
violent death in many forms. It is a marvel how 
even his hardy voyageurs were able to hold out. He 
forced his way down those gorges which we passed 
through today, and at last reached tide-water only to 
learn that it was not the Columbia, but a new river, 
which the world has called after his name. 

The hostility of the Indians became so aggressive 
that he was compelled to turn back without seeing— 
though he had smelt—the salt water, and fight his way 
homeward. Few explorers have better earned their 
honors than Fraser and his men. 

We are up before six o’clock, and go to the rear end 
of the car for a breath of fresh air. The sun is rising 
above the eastern hills. How cool and bracing the air 
feels, perhaps a little bit “nippy.” Let us put on 
something warmer. 

We are at Sicamous Junction, 335 miles from Van¬ 
couver. No wonder the air is sharp; we are now at an 
altitude of 1300 feet. Below us lies the Great Shuswap 
Lake. 


A LITTLE JOURNEY TO CANADA. 27 

Down to the southward lie the Kootenay and Nel¬ 
son Districts, studded with mines and mining towns 
down to the very Boundry country. 

Did you notice that curious looking canoe at Sica- 
mous Junction? That was a Kootenay canoe. It was 
built for the rushing rivers of the Kooteney region, 
where the ordinary canoe would be unmanageable. 
Its ends are low and pointed; but instead of turning 
up in the graceful prow and stern, characteristic of the 
eastern birch-bark, they turn down and reach fore and 
aft in long points underneath the water-line, like the 
ram of a modern ironclad. Th‘s gives the light vessel 
a hold upon the water, and renders it manageable in the 
fierce currents of the Columbia and the Kootenay. 

Now we descend; the grade is easy. We are amazed 
to find that at Revelstoke, only nine miles from Clan- 
william, we have climbed down 520 feet. 

We are at the base of the Selkirks. An observation 
car, open as a verandah, has been attached to the 
train. 

At Albert Canyon we find that we have ascended 
1400 feet in the last hour. Just east of the station, 
the train runs suddenly between the rocky walls of a 
short tunnel-like cutting, and halts'beside an awful 
chasm. Between the rails and the precipitous brink 
stout balconies have been built. We leave the train, 
and lean over to look down. Nearly 300 feet below 
roars and rushes a sea-green, foamy river compressed 
between rocks into a twenty-feet-wide flume. 

Twenty miles farther on, and 1300 feet higher, is the 
great glacier of the Selkirks. Shall we stop over a day, 
and see what a glacier is like? Later on in the season 


28 


A LITTLE JOURNEY TO CANADA. 



GREAT GLACIER OF THE SELKIRKS. 


we should have to face an army of mosquitos. As yet, 
however, insect life is dormant. On the lawn at 
Glacier House the grass makes a brave show in sunny 
spots. 

But we have come to see the glacier. It be¬ 
gins about two miles from the station. The 
moraines and splintered forests at its foot give us a 
hint of its destructive power. Some glaciers advance 
every year, but this one recedes, and so the hotel below 
is'in no danger. 

Eighteen miles broad is the glacier of the Selkirks; 
but we shall be content if we reach the foot of it. We 
can guess what the rest is like. 

The road from the hotel leads through woods of fir 
and spruce and balsam and tamarack. Here you 




A LITTLE JOURNEY TO CANADA. 


29 


might meet a grizzly, and not be so much surprised as 
you might suppose. The great boulder, hurled down 
by the glacier in the childhood of the earth, is called 
the Lover’s Seat. 

Now we pause at the edge of the glacier torrent, 
Illecillewaet. The path crosses and recrosses the river 
over bridges of tree trunks. As 
the path mounts, the outlook widens 
over giant boulders and blasted 
pines. Now we have reached the 
forefoot of the glacier. A turn of 
the road brings us close to a mass 
of ice 2,500 feet high and hun¬ 
dreds of feet thick. From be¬ 
neath its edge trinkle tiny rills. A few feet below 
they league and become a stream. The glacier fills 
the mountain gorge as the falls fill the gorge at Niag¬ 
ara. The crest is gashed and splintered into innumer¬ 
able crevasses. The cold is intense; let us go back. 

Just east of the Glacier House is a long snow-shed— 
the finest on the line, they tell us. We do not pass 
through it, but along an outer track used in summer 
time. It is at this portion of the line that the snow 
gives most trouble in the winter. 

Snow-sheds are fortifications against the artillery of 
the mountains—the dread avalanches that follow the 
forest fires; for, when once the trees are burnt off these 
steep slopes, there is nothing to hinder the snow from 
sliding down. In summer the roof of the snow-shed 
torms a popular promenade. 

We resume our journey. Two miles from Glacier 
we cross the summit of the Selkirk range, at an alti- 




v- 


: • ■ 









THE THREE SIHTERS. CANMORE 




















A LITTLE JOURNEY TO CANADA. 


31 


tude of 4,390 feet. A little beyond is Roger’s Pass, a 
valley reserved by the government as a national park. 

At short intervals we cross noble cascades on timber 
bridges of tremendous height. Notice that man far 
down the slope. He is one of the watchmen whose 
duty it is to examine the bridges day and night to see 
that no flaw develops in the massive timbers. 

We are climbing down fast. Presently we cross the 
Columbia—here a fine broad river sweeping round the 
base of the mountain range we have just left. For 
twenty miles we skirt its banks, with the rugged Rock¬ 
ies on the left and the steepled Selkirks on the right. 

On we go up the side of the Van Horne range of the 
Rockies to Field. Here we stop for an hour for 
supper at the Mount Stephen House. Neither servants 
nor hotel manager, it is said, ever stay here long. They 
are afraid of going melancholy mad. Mount Stephen 
weighs upon their spirits. High above the hotel it 
rises sheer from the flat bed of the Wapta. It is an 
evil giant guarding the vast treasures of silver hidden 
within its ribs. 

The westering sun is gilding the great glacier on its 
crest as we board the train again. 

We labor up the last heights of the Rockies, the 
heavy snorts of the locomotive echoing loudly among 
the giant firs that shut in the track. In an hour we 
cross the summit at an altitude of 5,296 feet, and 
begin the descent of the Atlantic slope. 

LAKE LOUISE. 

Far above the line to the right nestles a trio of snow- 
fed lakes, cold, dim and deep—the Lakes in the Clouds. 


32 


A LITTLE JOURNEY TO CANADA. 



LAKE LOUISE AND CHALET. 

Two and a half miles from Laggan station is the first 
and loveliest of these—Lake Louise. It lies in a hol¬ 
low between two mountains, one of which rises in 
a perpendicular wall 2,000 feet above the water, which 
has a wonderful hue of green. All around are vast, 
dark pine woods. Upon the nearer margin stands a 
picturesque Chalet hotel. 

BANFF. 

As night is falling we reach the Banff Hot Springs. 
From the station a drive of ten minutes through a 
whispering forest of small pine trees brings us to the 
Canadian Pacific Hotel, a stately pile built upon a ter- 







A LITTLE JOURNEY TO CANADA. 33 

race overlooking the confluence of the Spray and the 
Bow rivers. 

From this as a center can be seen to the best advan¬ 
tage the panorama of the National Park, a reservation 



BANFF HOT SPRINGS. 


twenty-six miles long by ten miles wide. The hotel is 
four stories high. As there are elevators, the top story 
is the best from which to view the surrounding scenery. 

Over there, to the southeast, is Sulphur Mountain, 
with its healing springs, whose virtues are attested by 
the crutches festooning the bath-house. At the gov¬ 
ernment baths for twenty-five cents one gets a bath 
and towels. These sulphur baths are not only a sov- 








34 


A LITTLE JOURNEY TO CANADA. 


ereign remedy for rheumatism; they afford a delicious 
tonic. The temperature is about 80 deg. Fah. 

Next in attraction to the baths, come driving to the 
Devil’s lake and canoeing on the Vermilion lakes. A 
row on the Bow river is an event to be remembered. 
The mountains change with every turn of the curving 
stream. There is strength, majesty and glory every¬ 
where. The peaks rise straight to the sky. 

The glaciers under the sun’s rays fill with crimson. 

The river is deep and clear. The boat 
glides on over the deeps like a thing 
of air. Mountains come and go in 
silence. Cascades thunder through 
the still air. Far aloft a solitary 
eagle wings its flight to the distant 
summits. Here and there the dark 
form of an Indian crosses the line 
of sight. 

Banff is the place to see fantastic rocks. Northward 
the Cascade Mountain is a glorious pyramid of bare 
rock. Castle Mountain recalls pictures of the feudal 
castles on the Rhine. Beyond lies the saw-back range, 
with ragged rims and pinnacles. Eastward towers the 
sharp cone of Peechee, 10,000 feet high. Westward 
gleam the snowy central heights of the Main range. 
The isolated bluff to the south is Tunnel mountain, and 
just behind the station Rundle Peak cuts off all further 
view in that direction. 

CALGARY. 

Past Anthracite, with its great coal mines, and Can- 
more, with its Three Sisters—the last peaks of the 


and gold light. 





A LITTLE JOURNEY TO CANADA. 


35 


Rockies—through the Gap, we reach Calgary. This is 
the center of the trade of the northern part of the 
great ranching country, and the chief source of supply 
for the mining districts in the mountains we have just 
left. Here we meet with the stalwart, red-coated, top- 



COKE OVENS AT FERNIE, BRITISH COLUMBIA. 

booted troopers of the mounted police—the “ Riders 
of the Plains.” They are really soldiers, but they act 
also as magistrates, sheriffs, detectives, town consta¬ 
bles, customs officers, license inspectors, fire wardens, 
court clerks, crown-timber agents, health officers, hide 
inspectors, game wardens, relief officers, crown prose¬ 
cutors, food inspectors and mail carriers. Their beat 
covers a country that measures one thousand miles 
from east to west and two thousand from north to 
south. They are well paid, well fed, well dressed, well 
armed and well horsed. Within their sphere no train 







36 


A LITTLE JOURNEY TO CANADA. 


robberies have ever taken place, nor any lynchings. 
Law reigns supreme. 

PRAIRIE LAND. 

One last, backward look at the Rockies, one hundred 
and fifty miles away, and we turn to face prairie land. 
But for more than a hundred miles we steam across the 
cattle plains. The country is broken, with lakes and 
ponds in the depressions. Here the buffalo used to 
roam. Now, in their place, we see Galloway cattle in 
vast herds. On the surface the pastures are rich with 
springing grass; they are richer still below with coal 
measures and natural gas. 

At Moose jaw we enter at last upon the prairies. 
Look at the dark, plowed fields, and the fresh green of 
spring wheat, and the thin columns of smoke rising 
from distant farm-houses. We are in a land inhabited. 
Ask this prosperous-looking farmer in the car with us 
something of his history. Hetells us that he migrated 
from Ontario with nothing but his hands and his deter¬ 
mination to make a living. He came out on a laborer’s 
cheap excursion train. He hired out for the summer 
for forty dollars a month and board. He saved most 
of his wages. He prospected a little for himself. He 
discovered a fertile tract of land near a stream. With 
the help of his neighbors he built a house. 

What kind of a house? He tells us that, too. First 
came a foundation of oak logs; oak never rots with 
the damp. On that were raid poplar logs, cut from 
the banks of the stream. The chinks between the logs 
were filled with bits of board, and then the walls were 
plastered with clay, that soon hardens and keeps the 


A LITTLE JOURNEY TO CANADA. 


37 



wind completely out. The roof was of British Colum¬ 
bia shingles. There were just two 
rooms, one in each story, and a lad-«j 
der made a capital staircase. The^ 
house once built, and a few acres N 
broken up and seeded down in wheat,^ 
our farmer went back to marry a 
wife and bring her to the new home. 

While his wheat was ripening he planted enough 
potatoes to carry them over the winter. His wheat 
was harvested. Some of it was sold for farm machin¬ 
ery, a horse and a cow with calf. A barn was built 
to shelter the cattle. In the winter he went to the 
nearest town to work till April. Then he came home, 
broke up more land, sowed more wheat, raised a larger 
crop, bought more cattle, and was able to stay at home 
all winter. In six years he had become comfortably 
well off, had paid for everything, and was able to hire 
labor. This is a great wheat country. The prairie 
soil is so rich that for sixty years wheat has been raised 
in the same fields without dressing. In the wheat ker¬ 
nel here there are three grains, while farther south 
there are but two. So, thirty bushels of wheat can 
be thrashed from an acre here, when only twenty can 
be grown on an acre of land farther south. 

PRAIRIE INDIANS. 


At many of the stations we notice little groups of 
Indians in mocassins and blankets. Some are pleasant, 
sensible-looking men and women. Most have buffalo 
horns to sell to the passengers. Though the buffalo is 
extinct, except for a few specimens in the National 


38 


A LITTLE JOURNEY TO CANADA. 


Park and at Stony Mountain, near Winnipeg, yet these 
Indians know where to find the skeletons and horns. 
They ask a dollar a pair, but they will take less if we 
can spare time to bargain. 

Though there are so many tribes, 
differing in language and in man¬ 
ners, yet in religion they are one 
from Labrador to the Pacific coast. 

All believe in spirits—spirits which 
inhabit earth, air, water and animals. 

Their protection must be sought; 
their vengeance must be avoided. 

What kind of idols have they? 

None at all. They make no images of these spirits. 
They pay special reverence to the sun and moon, and 
to one Great Spirit under different names. 

Do they believe in a future life? 

The conductor tells us there is an Indian Chief on 
board this train. Let us get an introduction to him 
and ask him. Llis name is Big Plume. He is a Black- 
feet Chief. 

This is what Big Plume thinks becomes of the soul 
after death: 

“The souls of all Blackfeet Indians go to the Sand¬ 
hills, north of the Cyprus hills, and east of the Black- 
feet country.” 

“How do you know?” 

“At a distance we can see them hunting buffalo, and 
we can hear them talking and praying, and inviting 
one another to their feasts. In summer we often go 
there, and we see the trails of the spirits, and the 
places where they have been camping. I have been 



A LITTLE JOURNEY TO CANADA. 39 

there myself and have seen them, and heard them 
beating their drums. We can see them in the distance, 
but when we get near to them they vanish. I cannot 
say whether or not they see the Great Spirit. I believe 
they will live forever. All the Blackfeet believe this: 
also the Sarces, Stonies, Atsinas and Crees. The 
Crees, after death, will go to the Sandhills further 
north. There will still be fighting between the Crees 
and the Blackfeet in the other world. Dogs and horses 
go to the Sandhills, too; also the spirits of dead buffa¬ 
loes. We hand these beliefs down to our children. 
We point out to our children various places where 
Napi, the Great Spirit, slept, or walked, or hunted; 
and thus our children remember.” 

To-day the majority of the Canadian Indians are 
Christians. Of the one hundred thousand Indians in 
the Dominion, nearly ten thousand are pupils in the 
281 schools set apart for their instruction. Many 
Indians have become progressive farmers. In the 
Province of Ontario they cultivate over 50,000 acres, 
and last year raised nearly half a million bushels of 
grain, besides other farm produce. By their fish and 
fur sales alone the Indians throughout Canada raise 
yearly a million and a half of dollars. 

Let us look at one of their wigwams. Not one of 
those to be seen on the outskirts of any of the prairie 
towns, but one in the northern forests far from the • 
presence of the white man, on the slopes that lead 
down to Hudson’s Bay. It will take us a little out of 
our way, but we shall have seen the red man’s dwell¬ 
ing unmarred by white influence. It is May by the 
calendar, but spring is still far away. 


40 A LITTLE JOURNEY TO CANADA. 

We are in the depths of a forest of spruce and bal¬ 
sam, with a sprinkling of birch and aspen. The 
ground between the trunks of the trees is of dazzling 
whiteness, beside which the green of the firs looks 
black. All round is a tangle of trees standing or fallen. 
Where we are it is somewhat more open, and bears 
evidence of having been used as a camping ground. 
Stumps just showing above the snow and bearing 



WIGWAM. 


, marks of the axe speak of many a good camp fire. 
Snow-shoe tracks show where the Indians have been 
for firewood, or to visit their snares and traps. At 
this hour we are sure to find them in their wigwams. 
Here is one just in front of us. It is a cone or sugar- 
loaf, ten feet high to the apex where the poles cross, 


LITTLE JOURNEY TO CANADA. 41 

and then project two or three feet beyond. It is about 
fourteen feet in diameter at the ground. Five-sixths 
of this cone from the ground is covered with deerskins 
or birch bark, cotton or sailcloth, with a deep, soft 
outer covering of moss, leaving the top open for the 
smoke. Round this tent, hung on the trees or on 
poles, you see snowshoes, tapanasks or toboggans, per¬ 
haps some fur and other articles which you would 
expect to see in a wardrobe or larder. But, come in 
to get warm; it is no joke standing here, with the 
thermometer away down. We are sure of a welcome. 
What is that? Don’t be afraid. Just give a kick or 
a stroke with your stick. No; they are not wolves, 
only dogs. They are useful for hauling or hunting, 
but it is little in the way of thanks that they get from 
their masters. Poor fellows ! They are used to being 
beaten, and, for all their show of ferocity, will crawl 
away if you show a determined front. 

Now, then, stoop low; lift up that hanging flap of 
blanket, and enter! Ah, yes; but the dog has slunk 
in between your legs ! At once there is a shout of 
“ wuluwee!” (get out), and a grabbing for sticks, 
lighted or not, no matter, with which to belabor him. 
Never mind the smoke in your eyes. Sit, kneel or 
squat on the brush floor, or on the skin which the host 
spreads for you. When the door-flap is adjusted it is 
not so bad; most of the smoke will go straight out at 
the top. 

Well, it is fairly warm in here, if not very clean or 
comfortable. You must not expeet cleanliness with 
six to ten persons living in the tent, and the weather 
so cold that they hate to go outside to do any house- 


42 


A LITTLE JOURNEY TO CANADA. 


hold work. Skinning, cleaning, cooking game, eating 
and washing up, as well as personal toilet, all goes on 
within the wigwam. Too often the floor is scullery, 
sink and refuse heap. The dogs, however, do not 
allow much to lie there long. 

But you cannot complain of a lack of welcome. 
The owner of the tent is not talkative, but he means 
his a what cheer,” which his forefathers adopted from 
the Hudson’s Bay sailors. He probably adds:“A r e 
sikelasin ” (“I am glad to see you.”) 

How many people are there in the wigwam? Let 
us see. There is the old man and his wife, his son, 
with wife and children, three boys and two girls. 
Besides, there is a funny, chrysalis-looking object, 
laced up and strapped to a board, with only a fat 
face, and two black, beady eyes showing. That is the 
baby, in its moss bag and cradle. The old man can 
read, and so can the older children. Wrapped up in 
moose skin, they have Bible and prayer-books and 
hymn books. They are all Christians. In fact there 
is not a heathen Indian within five hundred miles of 
Hudson’s Bay. 

WINNIPEG. 

Here we are at Winnipeg, where the forests end and 
the prairies begin. With thousands of miles of river, 
navigation to the north, south and west, and with rail¬ 
ways radiating in every direction, Winnipeg has 
become the commercial metropolis of the Canadian 
northwest. 

THE FOREST REGION. 

We have left prairie land behind us. Now we enter 
the eastern division of the Dominion. It extends 


A LITTLE JOURNEY TO CANADA. 


43 


from Ontario to Nova Scotia. It contains the greater 
part of the wealth and population. It is the forest 
section. 

As we pass through the Rainy River district we see 
few evidences of the presence of man. Vast, unbroken 
woods stretch mile upon mile. The streams we cross 
are running north-east to join the Albany River and 
fall into James’ Bay. Now we are at the height 
of land. The waters begin to run south to Lake Su¬ 
perior, the greatest fresh water lake on earth. It is a 
land of streams. They furnish highways for the saw 
logs and will soon furnish power for the saw mills and 
the pulp mills rapidly being established at centers like 
Rat Portage. 

We have reached Fort William. Here in the days 
of the Hudson’s Bay Company, the factors, traders 
and voyageurs used to meet once a year to settle ac¬ 
counts, feast and plan the work for the coming year. 
The fur house of the old fort is now the engine house 
or the great coal docks and the capacious elevators. 
Here are stored the crops of the North-West for ship¬ 
ment by lake and canal to Buffalo and Montreal. 

As the the C. P. R. steamers are not running yet, 
we continue by railway round the head of Lake Su¬ 
perior. Bordering the line the region seems a waste 
of rocks, the rubbish of a world. But a few miles 
north the endless, unbroken forest holds the ground. 

Richer and more enduring in value than the gold 
mines of the Yukon are the forests of Ontario and Que¬ 
bec. In felling timber and rafting it often fifty thousand 
men are employed, and hundreds of vessels are busy 
carrying the logs and lumber to the ends of the earth. 


44 


A LITTLE JOURNEY TO CANADA. 


THE USE OF SNOW. 

Did you ever ask yourself what is the use of snow? 
Many answers maybe given. In the forest regions we 
can see at once its enormous value. Snow is the only 
possible roadway in the mountain forest and in the low¬ 
land wood. Snow is the railway which Nature lays 
down every winter from the foot of every pine tree to 
the river that, when the ice breaks up, carries the logs 
to the saw mills in the centers of the lumber industry. 

A VISIT TO THE NICKEL MINES. 

At Sudbury we stop to pay a visit to the famous 
nickel mines. 

Look at this long, narrow piece of shining metal. It 
came out of one of the Copper Cliff mines. Surely, 
there is gold in it, and silver, too? No, but it contains 
ores almost as valuable. It is a specimen of the nick¬ 
el and copper ore that has made Sudbury famous. In 
no other part of the world is nickel to be found in such 
quantities. 

Take up the specimen, examine it closely. What 
looks like gold in it is ready copper ; and what looks 
like silver is a rarer metal, nickel. An alloy of two 
and a half per cent of nickel doubles the strength of 
steel. 

Wherever strength and tenacity are required, as in 
armor for battle ships, in bridges and rails and in great 
guns, nickel must be employed. 

Now notice those faint greenish lines running 
through the metal. They indicate sulphur. This is 
burned out on the great roasting beds that we shall 
take a look at presently. There is iron in this speci- 


A LITTLE JOURNEY TO CANADA. 


45 


men, too; but you can hardly detect its presence by 
the eye. 

These nickel mines and their surroundings are worth 
inspecting. There is no gas to be feared. The air is 
fresh and pure. On the surface, smelters are at work 
night and day. Far dcwn' below, men are drill¬ 
ing into the heart of the rock, charging, touching the 
fuse, and then clearing out until a voice cries from 
some safe corner: “All over.” Then the drilling goes 
on again. The skips laden with ore race up and down. 
The feeders bend to their work, shovelling now ore, 
now coke, into the great furnaces. The flames leap, 
roaring for more. The ore and coke buggies roll in¬ 
cessantly, dumping as fast as the furnace men can 
attend to them. There is not an idle moment. 

SAULT SAINTE flARIE. 

Now let us take the branch line of the C. P. R. to 
the “Soo” as the Sault Ste. Marie people call their 
town. 

A few years ago the town was on the verge of bank¬ 
ruptcy. In order to attract manufacturing industries 
it had saddled itself with a large debt, incurred 
in building a waterpower canal. The people w^ere dis¬ 
couraged. Property was being sold for taxes. Citi¬ 
zens who could, left the place. How different is the 
position to-day! To what is the change for the better 
due? To the advent of J. H. Clergue, a New Eng¬ 
lander from the State of Maine. The story of w T hat 
he has accomplished reads like an extract from the 
“Swiss Family Robinson.” 

Mr. Clergue and his associates bought the water- 


46 


A LITTLE JOURNEY TO CANADA. 


power canal at its cost to the town. With Lake Su¬ 
perior for a mill-pond there is no danger of drought. 
He enlarged the canal to a capacity of twenty thous¬ 
and horse-power, and contracted to supply the town 
with electric power and light. 

Still, most of the power was running to waste. 
What could he do with it? There were thickly wood¬ 
ed uplands. Could not something be done with them? 
What were the trees? Spruce mostly, What is 
spruce good for? Pulp for making paper. He sent 
an army of choppers into the woods to cut down the 
trees. He set his power in motion. Huge grindstones 
revolved, gripping the spruce logs, and grinding them 
into a pulpy mass. This was shipped away to the 
paper mills. 

But fifty per cent, of the pulp consisted of Lake 
Superior water, and paying freight on it was not a 
good investment. Could he not keep this water at 
the Soo, and ship the pulp dry? After many experi¬ 
ments he invented a process for drying the pulp. 

He built a foundry and machine shops to carry out 
his invention; and today the Soo pulp mills are not 
only the largest in the world, but they are the only 
mills on the continent in which dry pulp is manufac¬ 
tured. 

But mechanical pulp is the crudest form of paper 
making material. It can be utilized in the manufac¬ 
ture of only the coarsest grades of paper. To pro¬ 
duce higher grades it must be blended with chemical 
pulp. But sulphur, the main ingredient in the manu¬ 
facture of chemical pulp, would have to be imported, 
and Mr. Clergue had resolved to import nothing. 


A LITTLE JOURNEY TO CANADA. 


47 


He happened to hear that the nickel and copper ore 
of the Sudbury mines contained a large per centage of 
sulphur, which was being absolutely wasted in the 
course of treatment adopted by the Canada Copper 
Company. He secured samples of the ore. He ex¬ 
perimented. At last he discovered a method of pro¬ 
ducing ferro-nickel steel, and as a by-product, sul¬ 
phuric acid and sulphurous anhydride. 

Upon this discovery he bought the Gertrude nickel 
mine near Sudbury. Now he had an ample supply of 
ore for ferro-nickel steel and of sulphuric acid for mak¬ 
ing chemical pulp. 

He built a sulphite mill. There the sulphur saved 
goes to make the raw material required in the manu¬ 
facture of chemical pulp; and also produces sulphuric 
acid, sulphurous anhydride and sulphurous acid, all 
three marketable products. 

His ferro-nickel steel was sent to manufacturers, 
and proved so superior to every other grade in the 
market that the great Krupp firm contracted to buy 
all he could possibly turn out. 

Finding that the percentage of nickel in ? tl^e steel 
made by him was much higher than called for in his 
contract, he cast about for an iron ore to smelt with 
the nickel. 

He discovered at Michipicoton, within easy reach 
of the Soo, deposits of red and brown hematite iron, 
probably the largest in the world. 

This was the very thing he required. 

He acquired the property in which the lodes lay. 
He opened the mines, built docks for the shipment of 
the ore, and barges for its conveyance to the Soo. 


48 


A LITTLE JOURNEY TO CANADA. 


He erected blast furnaces which had an output of more 
than a thousand tons a day and gave employment to 
three thousand men. 

In the winter, however, the barges were useless. A 
railway was needed to bring the ore down to the Soo. 
The railroad was built. In time it reached Hudson 
Bay, from which point seagoing steamers bore the 
products of the pulp mills, sulphite mills, and blast 
furnaces to the markets of Europe. 

The government of Canada made Mr. Clergue an 
ample land grant; and he undertook to settle ten thou¬ 
sand farmers and agricultural laborers every year upon 
farms laid out along the route of the railway. 

HOW PULP IS HADE. 

In August the wood crews, from six hundred to 
seven hundred men, are sent into the forest. The 
trees are cut down and skidded in piles. When snow 
comes, the logs are drawn from the skidways, and laid 
upon the ice covering the larger streams. In spring 
the logs are steered to the lake shore, where they are 
bound together and towed in rafts of about five 
thousand cords each. At the mill each log is sawn 
into lengths of twenty-four inches. It then passes to 
the barker, the sharp revolving knives of which soon 
strip it of its covering. The bark is blown to the 
boiler house, and furnishes the steam for drying the 
manufactured pulp. The stock next passes through 
water to free it of all impurities, and is then carried to 
the grinders to be separated into small fibres. 

The wet pulp passes into a metal receptacle, and is 
caught up and evenly distributed on a revolving blan- 


A LITTLE JOURNEY TO CANADA. 











50 


A LITTLE JOURNEY TO CANADA. 


ket, from which it passes between metal rollers, which 
subject it to a pressure of 500 pounds to the square 
inch. After emerging from the rollers it is fifty per cent, 
water and fifty per cent. pulp. It then passes over a 
steam-heated metal drum, and is rolled on a spindle, a 
continuous sheet of thin, dry, pressed pulp, resembling 
coarse wrapping paper. 

We are back again on the main line of the C. P. R. 
Three hundred miles to the south of us lie the cities of 
Toronto, Hamilton and London; centers of commerce, 
manufacture, and of higher education. But we cannot 
visit them. We hasten on to Mattawa and the High¬ 
lands of Ontario. From Mattawa a two hours’ run 
brings us to Lake Temiscamingue, a body of water that 
stretches for seventy-five miles with a varying width of 
from one to three miles. It is the great link in the 
chain of waterways by which all parts of this region 
are reached. Here, and along the heights back of the 
Georgian Bay, is the chosen haunt of the moose. The 
moose likes to see where he is and who are his neigh¬ 
bors. He feels at home in a country well watered by 
small lakes and streams, with ridges and upheavals, as 
from these he obtains good views of the surrounding 
region. 

Moose are increasing rapidly, owing to the close 
season that has been established for some years, and 
to the protection afforded them by the rangers in Al¬ 
gonquin park. 

The park is a wise creation of the Ontario Provincial 
government. Out of the public domain they have set 
apart and withdrawn from sale and settlement a block 
1,733 square miles, of which 181 are covered by water. 


A LITTLE JOURNEY TO CANADA. 51 

This park consists of hilly and rocky land, covered 
with forests. It has many streams and lakes abounding 
in fish. Although equally magnificent cover for game 
may have been preserved before for royal sportsmen, 
it has never been preserved, in the Old World, for the 
“benefit, advantage and enjoyment of the people.” 

Already the protection afforded to wild animals has 
been rewarded. There are at least sixty places in the 
Park where familes of 

BEAVER 

have recently located themselves on waters where they 
have never before been found. 

The beaver is the largest gnawing animal in North 
America. His body is about three feet long, and his 
tail nine inches. He weighs, on an average, forty 
pounds. 

He is a great builder—the leading carpenter 
among animals. He lives in and about streams of 
water. His house is like a huge bird’s nest turned up¬ 
side down. It is built in lakes or by the edge of dams 
and ponds, and is from eight to eighteen feet in 
diameter. 

The entrance to the house is generally three feet be¬ 
low the level of the water. The chamber is rather 
low, about two feet in height, and has two levels. The 
lower level is a sloping mud bank, where the beaver 
emerges from the water and shakes himself; the other 
level is higher and contains the bed of boughs running 
round the back of the chamber. The couch is made 
comfortable by linings of dried grass and soft bark. 
The interior is kept perfectly clean, no refuse of food 
being allowed to remain. 


52 


A LITTLE JOURNEY TO CANADA. 


When the water is not deep enough in the stream, 
the beavers build a dam to hold the water back, and 
thus make it deeper. The dam is made of bushes and 
poles set in the mud, the space between being filled 



THE BEAVER. 


in with stones and earth. It is two feet wide at the 
top and thicker below. 

If the length is not very great, it is built straight 
across the stream; but where the channel is broader, 
and the current swift, the dam curves up-stream, so 
as to make it stronger. The mud and stones are 
brought up from the bottom of the stream, and carried 
by the beaver under its chin in its forepaws. The 
beaver can gnaw through trunks of trees six and even 
twelve inches in diameter. After the tree falls, the 









A LITTLE JOURNEY TO CANADA. 


53 


beaver cuts it into suitable lengths of six or ten feet, 
and drags them, one at a time, away to the house or 
dam. 

The beaver uses its broad tail as a help in swimming. 
Its food consists of the bark of the willow, poplar and 
birch, and the roots of the yellow pond lily. It feeds 
in the evening and during the night. At this time 
it works at house-building. Beavers are so timid and 
cautious that it is very difficult to watch them. 
What we know about their habits has been learned 
chiefly from the Indians. 



THE NOTCH OF THE MONTREAL RIVER. 


THE MONTREAL RIVER. 

Lake Temiscamingue receives the waters of many 
rivers throughout its length. The largest of these is 





54 


A LITTLE JOURNEY TO CANADA. 


the Montreal river. Just before entering the lake it 
narrows into a seemingly impassable strait called the 
“Notch.” 

About thirty miles north of Lake Temiscamingue is 
the Kippewa river. It flows from Lake Kippewa, fal¬ 
ling 300 feet in the nine miles of its length. The falls 
of the Kippewa are situated three miles from its mouth. 
Lake Kippewa lies directly east of Lake Temiscamin¬ 
gue. It is dotted with innumerable islets, and its 
arms spread out in every direction, giving it a coast 
line of about six hundred miles. 

THE FREE GRANT LAND. 

In the township around Lake Temiscamingue there 
is plenty of Free Grant Land. Any man can take up 
a hundred acres and in three years receive the deeds 
for his farm from the government, on condition of 
clearing six acres, building a house and living in it. 

Let us take a walk through the bush and get a 
glimpse of a backwoods farm. We follow the track 
taken by the cows on their way to and fro between 
the barn and the rough pasture by the road side. The 
trees bordering our path are maples, basswood, ash and 
hemlock. Look down and see those anemones, violets 
and mocassin flowers. 

THE SETTLER’S HOiTE. 

The trees are beginning to thin out. Now we have 
come to a clearing. The log shanty perched upon a knoll 
is the settler’s home. Near by is a tiny barn. A few 
acres are fenced in, and are under cultivation. At 
first sight, stumps appear to be the crop; certainly 
there are hosts of them. But, look, they are decay- 


A LITTLE JOURNEY TO CANADA. 55 

ing; their hearts are powdery dust. Soon they will dis¬ 
appear. 

See, there is the owner of the farm plowing among 
the stumps with a yoke of oxen. Horses have not pa¬ 
tience enough for the frequent stoppages caused by the 
plow-point getting entangled in the roots. The soil 
is easily worked. It is black, loose and fertile. It 
will reward the farmer’s labor with from twenty-five 
to forty bushels of wheat to the acre. 

Let us ask the farmer for a drink of water. He 
will tell us what we want to know. 

THE SHANTY. 

The farm house, or shanty, is very simple. There 
is not a single nail in it, or a piece of iron in any form 



UPPER HALF OF BIG CHUTE, KIPPEWA RIVER. 







56 


A LITTLE JOURNEY TO CANADA. 


whatever. The axe was the only tool employed in 
building it. So the farmer tells us. 

Four sides of great logs, laid at right angles to each 
other at the corners, form the walls. The front is one 
log higher than the rear. The roof is made of bass 
wood logs, split in the cent er and scooped out with the 
axe. There is a door cut out in front, and a window 
large enough for four small panes of glass. The door 
and the hinges of it, and the floor, were all made with 
the axe by the settler, out of white basswood, split 
and made into thin planks. The seams of the walls 
are filled with chinking, over which is a thick covering 
of clay inside and out. The cooking stove serves also 
to heat the house. Wood, of which there is a super¬ 
abundance, forms the fuel. On shelves are cups and 
plates. A cheap clock ticks cheerily. A large Bible lies 
on the window ledge. A picture of the Queen and an al¬ 
manac adorn the whitewashed walls. Screened off by 
curtains made of woven basswood bark are the beds 
of the family. A table and some stools complete the 
furniture. Outside, the barn is like the house, except 
for the chinking and clay filling between the logs. There 
is a loft for hay, and a manger of basswood, axe-hol- 
lowed, for the oxen. This is the pioneer’s homestead. 
Where are his family ? 

MAPLE SUGAR. 

Look at that ox-wagon coming slowly towards us. 
Nobody seems to be driving. Ah, but look again. 
On a board in front sits a woman with a long gad in 
her hand. She has no reins, but she is the driver. 
The words: “Haw Buck,” or “Gee Bright,” guide the 



A LITTLE JOURNEY TO CANADA. 57 

oxen to right or left. Behind the woman are three or 
four children. They are coming home, their faces 
smeared with taffy and bits of dead leaves. They 
have been making maple syrup. The great cauldron 
or kettle in the wagon is half full of it; and so are the 
children. 

In the morning that great cauldron or kettle was 
empty, they tell us. By the combined strength of the 
household it was hoisted into the wagon. Tapping 
gouges, spiles and troughes were added to the load. 
Then the mistress of the log house and the children, 
baby and all, crowded onto the rough vehicle drawn 
by a yoke of oxen. Laughing and shouting at the 
prospect of plenty of sugar, taffy and maple syrup, the 
party set out for the bush. 


NATURAL CANAL, LAKE K1PPEWA. 







58 A LITTLE JOURNEY TO CANADA. 

The night before had been a little frosty, they said, 
but the morning sun was bright and hot. When the 
axe was struck into the maple, how the sap gushed 
out! But first the kettle had been hung over a pole, 
and a fire of logs built under it. By the time the fire 
was ablaze, the buckets were half full of sap. How 
the little ones screamed with delight, as each with a 
tiny pail ran from tree to tree, gathering the sweet 



CAMPING. 


sap and emptying it into the cauldron. Soon steam 
began to rise. The sap began to change color. 
Then the children stopped carrying from the trees 
to watch the thickening sap in the kettle. At last 
their hopes were crowned. Skimmers, cups, plates 
were thrust in. Each tasted the sweet reward of 
toil. Now they were home again, tired and sleepy 
and happy. 





A LITTLE JOURNEY TO CANADA. 59 

OTTAWA. 

We bid our settler friends farewell, and walk back 
to the station. In the morning we find ourselves in 
Ottawa, the capital of the Dominion. It is with 
some difficulty that we are able to get rooms at the 
Russell House, for Parliament is sitting, and many 
of the members have their quarters here during the 
session. 

Ottawa owes its importance chiefly to the fact that 
it is the capital of the confederated provinces. It 
lies on the south shore of the Ottawa, just where the 
great river roars down into the cauldron of the Chau- 
diere Falls. At this point, also, the Ottawa is joined 
by its tributary the Rideau river, which flows in over 
a fall of wonderful beauty. The double, curtain-like 
falls gave the river its name of “Rideau” or curtain. 

The Ottawa river forms the boundary between the 
provinces of Ontario and Quebec. A suspension 
bridge unites the English with the French province* 
one hundred yards below the Chaudiere, or cauldron 
falls. 

PARLIAMENT BUILDINGS. 

The Parliament buildings, standing on the bluffs of 
the Ottawa, make a fine display. Few groups of 
buildings anywhere are so pleasing to the eye. The 
buildings provide accommodation for the Senate and 
the House of Commons. The Library stands apart, 
but so near as to seem, from a little distance, to be 
one with them. 

The eastern, western and southern blocks are de¬ 
partmental buildings. They enclose a vast quadrangle 
laid out in walks, drives and spacious lawns. 


60 


A LITTLE JOURNEY TO CANADA 



MAIN BUILDING, HOUSES OF PARLIAMENT, OTTAWA 













A LITTLE JOURNEY TO CANADA. 61 

When parliament is in session, as it is now, from the 
top of the tower of the main building flashes a pow¬ 
erful electric light, visible for twenty miles around. 

The chambers for the Senate and for the Commons 
are alike in size, shape and design. The carpets and 
upholstery in the Senate chamber are red; those of 
the House of Commons are green. 

In the popular house, galleries extend all round 
the chamber. Visitors are always welcome, they say: 
let us see if it be so. 

Canada is a self-governing nation. She can tax 
herself, and levy taxes as heavy as she chooses, 
upon the imports of any country, Great Britain in¬ 
cluded. All the taxes raised in Canada are spent 
in Canada, for the benefit of Canada. 

For a measure to become law, it must be passed 
both by the Senate and the House of Commons, and 
must receive the assent of the Crown. This is signi¬ 
fied by his Majesty’s representative, the Governor- 
General. 

The members of the House of Commons, 221 in 
number, are elected for a term of five years. The 
members of the Senate, 87 in number, hold office 
for life. They are appointed nominally by the Crown, 
but really by the party in power. 

A VISIT TO THE HOUSE OF COMMONS 

But let us make our way up the hill to the House of 
Commons. We are courteously received and ushered 
into a gallery exactly opposite the Speaker. He is 
chairman of the House. In front of him, on a hand¬ 
some table, lies a glorified badge of office, called the 


62 A LITTLE JOURNEY TO CANADA. 

mace. While that lies on the table, business may 
proceed. When it is not there, nothing can be done. 

To the right of the Speaker sit the members of the 
ministry. They are the leaders of the party in power. 
Their chief is called the premier. The governor- 
general is the representative of the King of England in 
Canada. He calls Parliament together and dissolves 
it, appoints members of the Privy Council, and nomi¬ 
nates members of the Senate. His duties also include 
the opening of Parliament with a “speech from the 
throne.” His office, however, carries with it more 
pomp than real political power. 

The governor-general has a two-fold responsibility. 
He is the political head, under whom Canada governs 
herself; and he is the social head, under whose lead and 
example Canada tries to enjoy herself. His official 
residence is a large, rambling mass of buildings, named 
Kideau Hall. It stands among its gardens and grounds 
about two miles down the river from the House of 
Parliament. 


EDUCATION. 

Canadians take great pride in their public schools. 
Even in the rural districts, the school is an important 
factor, in spite of the great distances which pupils must 
sometimes travel to attend it. On education every 
province in the Dominion spends sums exceedingly 
large when compared with the total revenue. The 
schools and the collegiate institutues are free, not as a 
gift from the rich to the poor, but because they are paid 
for by the people. 


A LITTLE JOURNEY TO CANADA. 63 

Primary education is free to all pupils of school age 
in every province except one, where a nominal fee is 
charged. In every province except one, it is compul¬ 
sory. 

In most of the provinces provision is made for medical 
inspection in the schools. Physical training is given 
in all the provinces and instruction in hygiene is com¬ 
pulsory. Vocational training is confined to the high 
school, except for the domestic science and manual 
training taught in the upper grammar grades. 

Nor is secondary education neglected in Canada. 
The governments of the various provinces have estab¬ 
lished some excellent technical schools for the training 
of expert workers in the trades and industries. One of 
the best of these schools, located in Hamilton City, 
teaches woodworking, forging, electrical work, house¬ 
hold science, drafting, printing, and the fine arts. 
There are even schools for the teaching of coal-mining, 
and others devoted solely to the sciences. Naturally 
in an agricultural country like Canada, the teaching of 
farming has an important place in the secondary schools. 

Agricultural colleges, paid for out of the taxes, are 
found in every province. Skilled instructors are sent 
yearly into every township to show the farmers and 
their wives the best and most modern methods in 
dairying, cheese-making, fruit growing and tillage. 

WINTER AMUSEMENTS. 

In winter the skating and curling rinks, and dizzy 
toboggan slides of Rideau Hall are freely shared with 
the public. 


64 


A LITTLE JOURNEY IN CANADA. 


The toboggan is the product of the Red Indian’s un¬ 
tutored mind. While traveling over the snow on 
shoeshoes, he drags along his provisions, papooses and 
treasurers on a toboggan. The toboggan is made of 
flat hardwood boards, a quarter of an inch in thick¬ 
ness. Its average width is eighteen inches, and length 
eight feet. The bow is turned up and back to throw 
off the loose snow. Along the edges run light rods 
which serve as handle and stays, to which cross-pieces 
are bound to hold the boards together. The under side 
is polished to a high degree of smoothness, and the 
upper side is comfortably padded. Stout thongs made 
fast to the top of the curved bow are used to draw 
it, and sometimes to guide it. Any snow-clad hill 
serves for 

TOBOGGANING 

if there is a long level at its foot clear of obstructions, 
over which the toboggan can career after its plunge 
down the steep slope. The perfection of tobogganing 
is found on the artificial slides which are raised to a 
dizzy height, with a wide, deep trough, coated with 
snow and ice, pitching towards the ground at a fear¬ 
ful angle. As the foot is approached the slope be¬ 
comes more gentle until it is worked off to the level 
that stretches for perhaps half a mile beyond. Wood¬ 
en steps are built up to the platform at the fop of the 
slide, where the start is made. The toboggan dress is 
much the same as that worn by snowshoers, fur cap, 
or red and blue toque, blanket coat and sash, fur mit¬ 
tens and buckskin moccasins. 

The toboggan is good for one passenger, better for 


A LITTLE JOURNEY TO CANADA. 


65 


two and best for three, as the momentum of a heavy 
load carries it fast and far. The post of danger and 
delight is, of course, the front seat. This is always 
given to a lady, because a man must be at the back to 
steer with hand or foot. 

That is how the courteous Speaker of the House of 
Commons described to us this favorite Canadian winter 
sport. 

RUNNING A TIMBER SLIDE. 

We cannot toboggan without snow, and we are in 
May. But there is a kind of summer tobogganing 
within our reach, more thrilling, perilous and novel 
than the other. It is the descent of the timber 
slides. 

The lower town of Ottawa is a hive of industry. 
It is one mass of sawmills and of factories for turning 
out everything that was ever made of wood. To Otta¬ 
wa from the far-off forests are floated the huge rafts of 
saw logs and squared timber that have been cut 
down during the winter. Now the rafts cannot be 
sent over the falls without much loss from the merci¬ 
less grinding and battering which they would receive. 
Alongside of the falls, therefore, slides are built. 
These are long, flat-bottomed, sharply sloping chan¬ 
nels of massive stone work and timber. The raft is 
taken to pieces. The great logs are made up for the 
descent into “cribs ’ of about twenty sticks, exactly 
filling the slide. As they are but slightly fastened to¬ 
gether, there is always the chance of a break-up. The 
pace of the descent is suggestive of falling from a bal¬ 
loon. Come along! 


66 


A LITTLE JOURNEY TO CANADA. 


Here is a crib making ready. May we come aboard? 

The answer is in French; but the look and gesture 
say: “Come and welcome.” Where are we to sit? 
Here we are on the highest timber in the rear of the 
crib. Off we go! 

With huge oars the raftsmen steer the crib towards 
the entrance of the slide, a quarter of a mile away. 

Now we begin to feel the current. Our speed is 
every moment increasing. Now we are in the slide. 
We are rushing beneath a bridge. The people on it 
are waving their hands and hankerchiefs to encourage 
us, we suppose. But we have no time to think. The 
water is surging through the timbers at our feet. A 
shower of spray falls over us. There is a smooth rush, 
a gleam of tossed and tumbled water and with a wild dip 
which sends the water spurting up about us, we are 
below the falls, and are towed in to a landing place. 

We have run a slide. 

CANADIAN CHILDREN. 

The English-speaking children of Canada are very 
much like the children of the States in appearance 
but they seem more active, vigorous and healthy. 
They are straight, well formed, strong and rosy- 
cheeked. 

The cold weather does not keep them in the house. 
They enjoy their winter weather with its months of 
snow and ice, more than the summer time. Their 
winters, while long and severe, provide them with 
their greatest enjoyment. 

There are no sudden changes of weather, no fogs, 
or dismal rainy days, with fogs, and slush, and sleet, 


A LITTLE JOURNEY TO CANADA. 


67 


and leaden skies. The winter days are clear and 
bright and the air is dry. The cold is bracing and in¬ 
spires them to active out of door exercise. Their fav¬ 
orite games and amusements are the ones that take 
them out of doors—as skating, tobogganing, sleighing, 
snowshoeing and ice boating and lacrosse. 

The older people join in these pastimes with quite 
as much enjoyment as the children, and as a result the 
winter in Canada is a very lively season. 

The first snow, which is sure to come before Christ¬ 
mas, is hailed with delight and is the signal for all kinds 
of fun. 

Almost every Canadian boy and girl owns a pair of 
moose-skin or doe-skin moccasins and a pair of snow 
shoes. The moccasin is a cross between a shoe and a 
stocking, and takes the place of both. It protects the 
snowshoer’s feet from the cold as he glides over the ice 
and snow on his snow shoes. 

Some of the children of Canada think of snowshoe¬ 
ing as a sport, others as a necessity. In some parts 
of the country one is obliged to use snowshoes, or 
not go about at all. The railways become snowed up, 
and villages snowed in. The ice is covered so deep 
that skating or driving is impossible. The crust on 
the snow is not deep enough to hold even a human be¬ 
ing, who w r ears only ordinary shoes or boots. 

So snow shoes are necessary. They were used by 
the Indians long before white people came to Canada, 
and every Indian man and many of their women pos¬ 
sess them. 

The snowshoe is usually over three feet long and a 
foot and a half wide at its widest part. The frame 


68 


A LITTLE JOURNEY TO CANADA. 


work is of hickory strips and the shoe is fastened to 
the foot with thongs of deer skin. The heel is left free 
but the toe fits into a place made for it at the front of 
the shoe. These shoes look light, but the lightest pair 
weighs almost two pounds. The Indians decorate their 
snowshoes very gaily. The Canadians ornament theirs 
with tassels of red wool. 

Lacrosse is the national game in Canada, just as 
baseball is with us. It is played with rackets, some¬ 
thing like tennis rackets. The ball is tossed between 
two goals, as in foot ball. Much skill is displayed in 
catching the ball on the rackets. Great crowds gath¬ 
er to watch the contest between the different clubs, 
and the boys and men become just as enthusiastic and 
excited as do the people who take part in or watch a 
base ball game. 

Many of Canada’s children are well taught as far as 
book lessons go, and many are not. But almost all 
are taught good manners, and there are no better 
bred children in the world. They are loyal too, and 
sing their patriotic songs with as much fervor and ear¬ 
nestness as any of our boys and girls sing their na¬ 
tional songs. 

The Canadian boy is quite as fond of fire crackers as 
his republican neighbor, but he fires them on “ Dom¬ 
inion Day” instead of the 4th of July. This is the 
great holiday in Canada, as it marks the day that 
Canada became a distinct part of the British Empire. 

MONTREAL. 

From Ottawa we can reach Montreal either by rail 
or by water. We have had enough of the cars for a 


A LITTLE JOURNEY TO CANADA. 69 

while, so we board the steamer. We shall make the 
run, they tell us, in ten hours. 

There is no monotony on this trip. The river rolls 
its brown tide between the stern Laurentian hills;over 
rapids, through wide, many islanded reaches. We 
overtake, and pass fleets of roomy barges, piled high 
with yellow planks, and towed by gasping steam tugs. 

At Grenville we leave the steamer and take the 
train for Caillon to avoid the great rapids. There 
are canals, it is true, but they seem to be used only 
for freight traffic. 

At Caillon we board another steamer. At St. Anne, 
by a short canal of one lock, we skirt a dangerous 
rapid. Now we are at 

LACHINE. 

We cross from the dark waters of the Ottawa to the 



IN LACHINE RAPIDS. 











70 


A LITTLE JOURNEY TO CANADA. 


blue stream of the St. Lawrence. To the left, five 
miles away, looms the mountain above Montreal. 
But everybody rushes to the bow of the boat. “Keep 
your places; balance the boat,” shouts the captain. 
What is the matter? We are in the Lachine rapids. 
Before us is a wild turmoil of dashing waves, thrust 
back from the brown rocks whose smooth, shelving 
layers flash on every side. There is no pathway vis¬ 
ible. And there is no time to pause. We are hurried 
on headlong by the force of the mighty river. Touch 
but one of these rocks, and the vessel would be splin¬ 
tered to matches before we had time to scream. But 
the pilot keeps her head straight—or crooked is it? 
Anyway, the five miles are done in as many minutes, 
it seems; and we are floating on the calm unruffled 
stream below the rapids. 

Under the central arch of the Victoria Jubilee 
bridge we pass, and tie up in the steamer's berth at 
one of the busy wharves of Montreal. 

Beside us lie steamships from all the seven seas, un- 
oading their far-brought treasures into the vast ware¬ 
houses along the docks. The air smells of the salt sea 
though the sea is yet more than a hundred miles away. 
It must be the ropes and sails that exhale the odor 
of the brine. 

Here comes a swarm of cabs, one-horse cabs, every 
one of them. The drivers are French-Canadians, but 
they can hail us in English. We take one, and go off 
at a rattling pace, up hill to the Windsor Hotel in 
Dominion Square, a lovely park with churches and 
lofty buildings bordering it. 

To-morrow we shall ascend Mount Royal, and see 


A LITTLE JOURNEY TO CANADA. 71 

what we can see. In the meantime let us read up 
something about this strange city. 

Montreal is the greatest city of Quebec and of the 
Dominion. If the St. Lawrence could be kept open 
in winter, it would be one of the greatest cities in the 
world. It is the meeting place of ocean navigation 
and a great railroad center. Nearly half of the im¬ 
port and export trade of the Dominion passes through 
Montreal. Its business firms reach out to the Pacific. 
The Bank of Montreal is the third largest bank in the 
world. It is the home of merchant princes, and 
the center of much wealth. 

Here is also the meeting place of the two national¬ 
ities of eastern Canada. They meet, but they do not 
mingle. Race and religion divide them. Yet they 
live side by side with feelings of mutual respect and 
good will. 

MOUNT ROYAL. 

We are at the top of the mountain. It is seven 
hundred feet high. What a view! On all sides stret¬ 
ches an immense plain, through which the St. Law¬ 
rence rolls its azure tide. • To the south-west is the val¬ 
ley of the Ottawa. Far away to the south-east rise 
the Memphremagog Hills. Below is the city, built 
upon terraces marking the former channels of the 
river. 

From these terraces rise many towers and spires. 
It is a city of churches, and colleges, and hospitals. 
The eyes tire in the attempt to count them. Let us 
go down, What is this body of water on the moun¬ 
tain side? It is the reservoir. From the St. Lawrence 



72 A LITTLE JOURNEY TO CANADA. 

five miles above the city, this water has been brought 
for the use of the citizens. 

At Notre Dame street we leave the electric cars and 
enter the great church from which the street derives 
its name. 


MONTREAL, FROM NOTRE DAME. 

NOTRE DAME. 

With the exception of the cathedral in Mexico City, 
Notre Dame is the largest church in America. It can 
seat ten thousand people. It is a copy of its great name¬ 
sake of Paris. Its lofty towers are landmarks. They 
are over two hundred feet high, and contain a peal of 
eleven bells. 










A LITTLE JOURNEY TO CANADA. 73 

Christ Church Cathedral, the seat of the Anglican 
bishop, is a perfect example of Gothic architecture. 
Tablets on the walls record the names and the achieve¬ 
ments of men who have served their country well. 

BONSECOURS MARKET. 

Let us go down by the river side. Here are not 
only the great English warehouses, but the French 
market place. It is called Bonsecours Market. Here 
we see French Canada as it is. Here is the French 
gesture and the French shrug, but the high pitched 
French voice is here mellowed to a softer note. 

There is a good deal of haggling; for the merchant 
has no fixed price for his wares. But the haggling is 
courteous, and is enjoyed by all concerned. At a 
little distance stands the Place Viger hotel, a hand¬ 
some structure worthy of the Canadian Pacific. 

Close by is the church of Notre Dame De Bonse¬ 
cours. It is old and plain; but the votive offerings 
hanging from the roof inside tell of many a heart 
struggle in bygone days. Here and there, done in sil¬ 
ver, hangs the model of a ship. The wife of the sail¬ 
or had vowed it if he came back safe from the 
terrors of the Gulf, or from the hazards of the sea. 
The sailor and his wife are both a century dead, but 
here still hangs the token of love and faith. # 

QUEBEC. 

We left Montreal last night on the steamer “Mon¬ 
treal” of the Richelieu and Ontario Navigation Com¬ 
pany. This morning, on waking, we find ourselves at 
the company’s wharf below the cliffs of Quebec, the 



74 A LITTLE JOURNEY TO CANADA. 

city founded in 1608 by Samuel de Champlain, soldier, 
sailor, statesman and Christian. 

Above us looms the Rock of Quebec, with its fan¬ 
tastic pile of steeples and its ramparts bristling with 
cannon, useless now, except as relics of battles long 
ago. 

Towering above, gleaming in the sun like a great 
diamond, stands Cape Diamond, crowned with the 


CHATEAU FRONTENAC, QUEBEC. 

King’s Bastion; and high over all, the Union Jack. 
Here the fortifications and guns are of the latest type. 

THE CALECHE. 

Quebec has a population of eighty thousand, mostly 
cabmen. Let us take one of their cabs, or caleches, as 







A LITTLE JOURNEY TO CANADA. 


75 



they are called. The world looks quaint from a ca- 
lesche; and Quebec quainter, if possible, than it really 
is. Once in, hold on tightly and keep a brave heart; 
people are not always upset'out of them. The caleche 
is a two-wheeled vehicle, something like an enormous¬ 
ly high jinriksha. Its body is shaped like the bowl of 
a spoon. It is supported upon two strong leather 


A QUEBEC CALECHE. 

straps, in place of springs. These straps can be loos¬ 
ened or tightened so as to afford you every variety of 
jolt, from an agreeable rocking motion to an upset. 

There is a seat for two passengers, and a place—or 
rather, no place, for the driver who balances himself 
somehow over your feet. Wings over the wheels pre¬ 
vent the mud from reaching you. 

The horse is small and shaggy. The driver continually 
urges him to a gallop with the sharp cry “Marche, done!” 





76 


A LITTLE JOURNEY TO CANADA. 


Let us drive up Mountain Street to Dufferin Terrace. 
It lies below the Chateau Frontenac Hotel, but nearly 
two hundred feet above the river. 

Look down at the winding streets of the Lower 
Town, with its wharves projecting into the stream. 
On one side are the lofty bluffs of Point Levis, and on 
the other, the St. Charles river winds away down its 
peaceful valley. Vessels of all classes and sizes are 
anchored in the broad basin and the river; and the rich, 
verdant Isle of Orleans is in mid-stream below. Acre 



ST. LOUIS GATE, QUEBEC. 


upon acre of timber comes floating down the stream 
above the city, and Canadian boat songs just reaching 
you upon the height. Beyond and above are the bold 
peaks of the Laurentian range, with Cape Tourmente 
towering over the river. 

We ascend to the Citadel by a winding road leading 
in from St. Louis street through St. Louis Gate, com- 








A *LITTLE JOURNEY TO CANADA. 77 

ing out at last into an open trianuglar parade 
overlooked by the loopholes of the Dalhousie Bastion. 

St. Louis Gate spans the Grand Allee, the historical 
road down which Montcalm rode from the Heights of 
Abraham on that September morning fatal to France. 

As we follow the zigzag lines of the ramparts, we 
can well believe that the fortifications cover forty 
acres. 

In the Governor’s garden is a noble monument to 
Montcalm and Wolfe. The Obelisk, sixty-five feet 
high, bears a Latin inscription to the two heroes. 
Thus the memory of those who fell in fight against 
each other is united as closely as if they had both 
died for the same cause. 

On the high ground outside the St. Louis Gate, rise 
the stately Parliament and Departmental buildings of 
the Province of Quebec. 

On the east side of the market square, near the cen¬ 
ter of the Upper Town, stands the Basilica, the cathe¬ 
dral church of the French population of the city. The 
finest paintings in Canada adorn its altars. Many of 
these, we are told, were bought in France at the Pevo- 

lution period, 
when churches 
and convents 
were no longer 
places of safety. 

The Martello 
Towers are four 
in number. 
They were built 
to protect the 



martello tower. 








78 


A LITTLE JOURNEY TO CANADA. 


citizens living outside the walls of the town. They 
are arranged for the reception of four guns each. 

They are circular in form 
with walls 13 feet thick 
towards the country; seven 
feet thick on the side to¬ 
wards the town. 

Little Champlain Street 
may be taken as a typical 
street of the Lower Town. 
It is narrow, precipitous, 
paved with rough cobble 
stones, perfectly clean, and 
lit by electricity, as, indeed, 
the whole city is, from the 
power developed by the 
Montmorenci Falls. 


HONTMORENCI FALLS. 

We take a drive out to seethe Montmorenci Falls. 
When a mile or two from Quebec, the driver points 
backwards with his whip, saying: “Behold the silver 
city!” We turn and look. The afternoon sun shines 
brightly on the steep, tin roofs, stained by the weath¬ 
er steel gray and grayish green, with patches of dark 
brown wherever the rust gathers. Under the strong 
sunlight, the roofs glitter as if made of silver. 

Passing a stretch of fields and woodlands, we draw 
near the falls. We leave our caleche and clamber 
down the river bank to view them from below. The 
river here pours over the cliff into the St. Lawrence, 








A LITTLE JOURNEY TO CANADA. 


79 


broadening at the edge to about fifty feet, and falling 
two hundred and fifty feet in a gleaming veil, half 
water, half spray; not sublime, not even grand, but 
simply beautiful. 

FRENCH CANADIANS. 

The French-Canadian farmers, and outside of the cit¬ 
ies they are almost all farmers, cling to the old family 
customs. South of the St. Lawrence, indeed, they are 
somewhat influenced by the English settlers of the 
Eastern Townships. But north of the river the “hab¬ 
it ans” plod along exactly as their fathers before them 
did. 

Owing to the custom of dividing the land equally 
among the children; the farms have become mere rib¬ 
bons, narrow strips with the river and the roads at op¬ 
posite ends, affording to. each owner access by land and 
by water to the nearest market. 

FARM HOUSES. 

French-Canadian farm houses are built of wood or 
stone, with high, steep roofs, broken by dormer win¬ 
dows. The rooms are low. The rough plank floors 
are bare, except in the parlors. There you are sure to 
see a yard or two of bright colored rag carpet in front 
of the large beds curtained off from the rest of the 
room. A picture of the Holy Family hangs on the 
wall; and beneath it a stoup of holy water, with a 
sprig of spruce for a sprinker. A few chairs and a 
bureau complete the furniture of the best room. 

The dining room, which is also a bedroom on occas¬ 
ion, has a plain pine table; a few basswood seated 
chairs and a two-storied stove, large enough to take 


80 


A LITTLE JOURNEY TO CANADA. 


in a whole cordwood stick. It serves for both heating 
and cooking purposes, and projects into the parlor 
through the partition between the two rooms, warm¬ 
ing them both. Under the roof are two or three rough 



MONTMORENCI FALLS. 

unfurnished chambers. Here a bed may be made up 
for a distinguished visitor. 

The barns are low, log buildings with thatched roofs. 
Here the harvest of hay and grain is stored. Here, 
too, the cattle and horses are housed during the long 
winter. 

A happier or more contented people than the 
French-Canadian farmers cannot be found anywhere. 
They are a social people, delighting to live within 
sound of the parish church bell. They have an im- 




A LITTLE JOURNEY TO CANADA. 81 

mense number of holy days. On these days all labor 
is suspended to enable them to attend mass, and the 
subsequent festivities. Sunday is the happiest day of 
the week. After serviee all adjourn to the green¬ 
sward upon the river bank to partake of their frugal 
meal amid raillery and laughter. Then the afternoon 
is given up to dancing and singing and other innocent 
amusements. This, of course, is in summer. 

They labor no harder than is necessary to provide 
for their simple wants. They are a self-contained 
people. Poverty is rare among them. The wives and 
daughters spin and weave their own linen and woolen 
cloth wherewith they clothe themselves. Their small 
farms yield sufficient for the family use. The maple 
bush supplies sugar and syrup. The nearest stream or 
lake yields abundance of luscious trout for fast days. 
Hares and rabbits are snared in the woods. They 
have little to sell and less still to buy. 

They are courteous and polite in their intercourse 
with each other and with strangers; even the little 
children bow and courtesy on the road when passing 
you. They are hospitable in the extreme, and antici¬ 
pate every wish of the traveller who knocks at their 
door. Above all they love their native soil. 

FRENCH-CANADIANS IN WINTER. 

When the long winter sets in, and all labor is suspend¬ 
ed, the people abandon themselves to the delights of 
that social intercourse of which they are so fond. Day 
and night the snowy roads resound with the tinkling of 
sleigh bells, and the merry laugh and song, as gay 
parties wend their way to and from each other's houses. 


82 


A LITTLE JOURNEY TO CANADA. 


The less burdened the French-Canadian is with 
worldly possessions the happier he is. “No cow no 
care” is his motto. Yet, though Jean Baptiste’s 
clothes may be well patched, he is never in rags. His 
little house may contain only the bare necessaries, but 
it is white as whitewash can make it. The children 
run barefooted, but they get enough to eat to keep 
them fat and rosy. In the gathering twilight the 
sound of fiddle or concertina is heard in the land, and 
light hearts grow lighter to the air of “La Can- 
adienne.” 

LAKE ST. JOHN. 

From Quebec we go to Lake St. John. Sea-like, 
its wide spread plain of water reaches to the horizon. 
There are many attractions here for the hunter and 
the fisherman; but we shall content ourselves with cal¬ 
ling in upon the 

“riONTAGNAIS.” 

These dusky, handsome Indians have their reserva¬ 
tion here. Once they were a flourishing nation. 
Two hundred and fifty years ago their alliance was 
eagerly sought by the French. Together they at¬ 
tacked the Esquimaux in their fort on the island still 
called after them “Esquimaux Island,” and utterly de¬ 
feated them. 

The Esquimaux, or “Eaters of Raw Flesh,” re¬ 
treated to the far north, to Labrador and Greenland, 
where in 1770 the Moravians followed them, converted 
and civilized them. 

The Montagnais Indians have dwindled until to-day 
they number at most two thousand. 


A LITTLE JOURNEY TO CANADA. 83 

In the short summer only can we find them at home. 
In the autumn each family sets off for the woods north¬ 
westwards. 

The Montagnais place high value upon education. Ev¬ 
ery one of them can read and write. Where do they 
learn? In the woods. There there is plenty of leis- 



MONTAGNA1S INDIANS. 

ure time. After visiting their traps and snares, and 
catching a trout in the stream close by, and cooking 
their dinner and eating it, there is time still left. 
They have no society calls to pay or to receive. There 
is no house to sweep and tidy up. The few dishes are 
soon washed. Then the father and the mother take 
out the little books printed in their own language, and 
set about the task of keeping alive their own know¬ 
ledge by teaching their children to spell and read and 
make figures and letters on a piece of birch bark, 
plucked from the nearest tree. They teach their chil¬ 
dren their prayers too. For these Montagnais Indians 
are all Christians. 







84 


A LITTLE JOURNEY TO CANADA. 


MAIL SERVICE IN THE WOODS. 

Moreover, they have a postal service. What, out in 
the woods? Yes. True, the delivery is slow; but one 
cannot have everything. 

About the end of October our Indian wants to send 
news home to the Reservation. He has lost his spell¬ 
ing book; it fell into a river. Or, he wants to tell old 
granny that his wife, who was sickly when they set 
out, is well and strong now. Besides, her little grand¬ 
son is growing to be a famous hunter; he has killed 
two foxes, and nearly got himself gobbled up by a 
bear. Would she mind sending him a bottle of Pain 
Killer and some fishing twine? 

All this is written on birch bark, with a pencil, or 
the point of a thorn, The letter is folded, and stuck 
into the split in a stick, which is then thrust into the 
ground in a spot where trees are few. No Indian can 
pass that without seeing it. He will read the address 
and if he is going that way, will be its bearer. Two 
months later, who knows but the writer will find the 
reply somewhere—a letter telling him where what he 
asked for has been hidden by another Indian on his 
way north. 

These Montagnais are not eager hunters, but they 
must live; and before they can roast a deer or a beaver 
they must skin it. Thus, during the winter they get 
together a quantity of skins. These they sell at the 
nearest Hudson’s Bay post. 

In the summer they return to the reservation, and 
live under the easy yoke of the chief elected by 
themselves. 

The men dress like the Canadians, but the women— 


A LITTLE JOURNEY TO CANADA. 


85 



the squaws—are fond of bright colors, and wear a 
headdress of red stripes and black, each stripe piped 
with blue. 

Now that tourists have invaded Lake St. John and 
the Saguenay, our Indians find ready employment 


BUILDING THE BARK CANOE. 

during the season as hunters and guides, or in making 
and selling their famous birch-bark canoes. 

SAGUENAY. 

A two hours* run by rail and we are at Chicoutimi, 
the head of navigation on the Saguenay river. It is 
called a river, but it is really an earthquake-cleft 
chasm sixty-five miles long and from one to two miles 
wide. The bed of the river—since we must call it so 
—is 600 feet below the level of the St. Lawrence. 

This strange river is a picture of solitude. Even to¬ 
day, with a brilliant May sun and clear sky, we sail 





86 A LITTLE JOURNEY TO CANADA. 

for miles and see no sign of life. Not a bird, not even 
a seagull; not a shanty perched on the cliffs. The 
water ahead of us is black as tar; churned by the 
paddles, it becomes a brown foam. 

The' walls of the chasm are wooded to the very 
heights, though here and there the hard rock juts out 
black and bare. 

CAPE TRINITY. 

Now we are approaching Cape Trinity. Here the 
cliff has been rent by some mighty force into three 
divisions, which rise like monstrous steps one above 
another. A little further down is Cape Eternity. This 
is a perpendicular shaft of rock rising from the river 
to a height of 1,500 feet. The top of the cliff, crowned 
with pines, seems to topple and fall on us as we look. 


CAPES ETERNITY AND TRINITY. 






A LITTLE JOURNEY TO CANADA. 


87 


We stop at Tadoussac. Here can be seen the battery 
of Jacques Cartier, the early explorer of Canada; the 
old, weathern-worn hut, once a Hudson’s Bay post, 
and the little Jesuit church, the oldest in America with 
the exception of the church at St. Augustine, Florida. 

NOVA SCOTIA. 

Now let us take a little jaunt over into Nova Scotia, 
the land of Evangeline, of which Longfellow has writ¬ 
ten. It is one of the most beautiful regions of all 
Canada, and a famous farming country. Here we will 
find the most delicious apples grown anywhere in sea¬ 
son, and the largest and richest gypsum beds in the 
world. What is gypsum, do you know? Is there any 
to be found in the United States? 

We must take just a look at Halifax, the capital of 
Nova Scotia, and the chief naval station of the British 
empire in western waters. 

Halifax is a city full of turf and trees. It is clus¬ 
tered around the citadel. It has the citadel for a heart 
and the arms of the sea to embrace it. It has a 
charmingly laid out park, and delightful villas embow¬ 
ered in the woody banks of “ The Arm.” The city is 
enlivened with naval and military pomp. Stately 
men-of-war ride in the harbor. Scarlet-tunicked Cana¬ 
dians saunter along the streets. We spend a day in 
Halifax driving through its pleasant thoroughfares. 
We admire its courthouse and fine old mansions. We 
go over the seat of the provincial legislature and the 
supreme court. We wander round its old church, full 
of monuments to scions of noble English families, who 
died in what was then a distant and perilous service. 


88 


A LITTLE JOURNEY TO CANADA. 


THE GREEN MARKET. 

Next to the fortifications, one of the most interesting 
features of Halifax is the green market. Here on 
Wednesdays and Saturdays the country folk sell their 
wares on the sidewalks by the post-office. 

There are Dutch women from the eastern shore with 
baskets of green crops nourished on the richest sea¬ 
weeds. There are Nova Scotia women, who have 
been driving all night to reach the market. They 
offer with a friendly smile, primrose butter and pearly 
eggs. 

There are lank-limbed countrymen in gray home- 
spun standing beside their loads of vegetables or salt- 
marsh hay, bashfully courteous of speech. 

Here are a pair of French women with baskets of 
knitted goods. 

There squats a negro matron on the pavement, a 
short black pipe between her lips. She has bananas 
to tempt us. 

The noble red man and his squaw are there. Their 
merchandise consists of flag and willow baskets, gayly 
dyed, and porcupine quill boxes. A bronze-tinted 
papoose looks at us from the birch-bark basket strapped 
to his mother’s back. 

FISHING. 

Fishing is an important industry in Canada. Thou¬ 
sands of people in Nova Scotia, Prince Edward Island 
and Newfoundland are engaged in cod fishing. It was 
this that first attracted the French to America. All 
along the shore it furnishes the people their living. 

In the last days of May the fishermen along the 


A LITTLE JOURNEY TO CANADA ] 


89 


coast are making ready to sally out after the cod. As 
soon as the caplin—a little fish about seven inches in 
length—appears, the cod appears, following up the vast 
mass of caplin and feasting on the rich banquet. 

Now is the opportunity for the fishermen. Schoon¬ 
ers of forty or fifty tons each, manned by a crew of 



TADOUSAC, ON THE LOWER ST. LAWRENCE. 


eight men and three boys, sail for the nearest fishing- 
grouud and cast anchor. 

The two light skiffs carried by each schooner are 
lowered. Two men get into each and row away to the 
likeliest spot near by. 




90 


A LITTLE JOURNEY TO CANADA. 


They throw out their long lines, baited with caplin, 
haul up the greedy cod, unhook them, and put on fresh 
bait. When they have caught five or six hundred they 
row back to the schooner, transfer their catch and 
return to fish. Theirs is no eight-hour day. They 
fish from three o’clock in the morning till nine o’clock 
at night. 

The men on the schooner are not idle. They dress, 
split, wash, and salt the cod. No part of the fish is 
wasted. The head is cooked and eaten. The offal 
and bones are kept to be steamed, dried and ground 
into fish guano. From the swimming-bladder isinglass 
is made. The roe is exported to France and used as 
ground bait in the sardine fishery. The tongue and 
sounds bring a good price as delicacies. From the 
liver is extracted cod-liver oil which is used extensively 
in the preparation of drugs and medicines. 

Three hundred quintals—the quintal weighs 112 
pounds—of codfish make a full cargo. The fishermen 
are content, and sail home. They unload their treas¬ 
ure, wash the salted fish, and spread them out to dry 
and bleach in the sun. The fish are then graded, and 
sold on the spot, or shipped to Halifax or Gaspe. Then 
comes the division of the money: two shares for the 
schooner; one share each for the eight men, and one- 
third of a share for each of the boys. 

Steamers are just coming into St. John’s, New¬ 
foundland, laden with seal skins and blubber. After 
they unload their cargoes they will return to the Arctic 
in search of whales. Let us ask this old sailor where 
they captured these seals. We thought that all the 
seals came from the Pacific coast islands. 


A LITTLE JOURNEY to CANADA. 91 

He tells us that the seal is the most common of Arc¬ 
tic sea animals. It supplies food for the Canadian 
Eskimaux, and the polar bear as well as the Alaskans. 

The skins are not so valuable, however, as those of 
the Alaskan seal. The Labrador seal rear their young 
on the cakes of ice that drift southward in the Labra¬ 
dor current. The steamers go out to hunt them in the 
early spring and come back in May or June. 

We would like to board one of these stout little ves¬ 
sels and take the northern trip, past the coast of 
Labrador and Baffins Bay and, yes on up to the North 
Pole. But the old sailor shakes his head. The Arctic 
summer would be over before we could return and 
the sea would be frozen over again, and we would be 
prisoners, or our vessel would be crushed by the ice¬ 
bergs. Many brave men have lost their lives trying to 
force their way to the North Pole. We must be con¬ 
tent with what we can read of what explorers have 
said and of what the Indians and Eskimaux, the hunt¬ 
ers and trappers, tell of the Northland. 

GRAND PRE. 

Our little journey in Canada is drawing to a close, 
but before turning our footsteps homeward let us take 
one glimpse of Grand Pre, the former home of Evan¬ 
geline. How well we remember Longfellow’s descrip¬ 
tion of it. Will we find it the same, I wonder ? 

i c In the Acadian land, on the shores of the Basin of Minas, 
Distant, secluded, still, the little village of Grand Pre 
Lay in the fruitful valley. Vast meadows stretched to the eastward, 
Giving the village its name and pasture to flocks without number. 


92 


A LITTLE JOURNEY TO CANADA 



THE VILLAGE OF GRAND PRE. 

Dikes, that the hands of the farmers had raised with labor incessant, 
Shut out the turbulent tides ; but at stated seasons the flood-gates 
Opened and welcomed the sea to wander at will o’er the meadows. 
West and south there were fields of flax, and orchards and cornfields 
Spreading afar and unfenced o’er the plain ; and away to the north¬ 
ward 

Blomidon rose, and the forests old, and aloft on the mountains 
Sea-fogs pitched their tents, and mists from the mighty Atlantio 
Looked on the happy valley, but ne’er from their station descended. 
There, in the midst of its farms, reposed the Acadian village. 







A LITTLE JOURNEY TO CANADA. 


93 


Strongly built were the houses, with frames of oak and of hemlock. 
Such as the peasants of Normandy built in the reign of the Henries. 
Thatched were the roofs, with dormer-windows ; and gables pro¬ 
jecting 

Over the basement below protected and shaded the doorway. 

There in the tranquil evenings of summer, when brightly the sun¬ 
set 

Lighted the village street, and gilded the vanes on the chimneys, 
Matrons and maidens sat in snow-white caps and in kirtles 
Scarlet and blue and green, with distaffs spinning the golden 
Flax for the gossiping looms, whose noisy shuttles within doors 
Mingled their sonnd with the whir of the wheels and the songs of 
the maidens.” 

The village of Grand Pre lies before us^ The bay, 
the dikes, the meadow-land, the orchards, and the 
headland Blomidon are all here, but Grand Pre is not 
the same. The village contains but one street. The 
houses are almost hidden from view by the trees, but 
they are not the houses Longfellow pictured for us. 
Neither are the people Evangeline’s countrymen. 

They look and act very much like the yankees of 
our own states. We are disappointed, but—never 
mind—we have many pleasant pictures yet to see be¬ 
fore our journey is over. 

There is the trip on the St. Lawrence and through 
the Great Lakes, and last and best of all, beautiful 
Niagara, the pride of Canada as well as of the United 
States. But this is a story in itself and must find a 
place in another book. 


CANADIAN BOAT SONG. 



Moderato. 

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Soon as the woods on shore look dim. We'll sing at St. Ann’s our parting hymn. 
But when the wind blows off the shore. Oh.sweetly we’ll rest the wea-ry oar. 
Saint of this green isle, hearour pray’rs, Oh, grant us cool heav’ns and fav’ring airs. 






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